by Melanie

2 Simple Ways to Make Money Online

September 2, 2014 in Office by Melanie

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I am in awe of moms who manage to work full time AND manage their household. Some days I feel like I’m barely scraping by. There are those magical days when I make scrumptious bread and feel like Supermom… but mostly just scraping by.

I love finding ways to make a few extra dollars at home. I have taught piano lessons, done a bit of tutoring, and even worked as a medical transcriptionist, but this post isn’t about such a major commitment.

I’m a big fan of making a few clicks online every day and being rewarded. Naturally this isn’t a recipe for making big money, but I love getting a $5 Amazon gift card (my reward of choice) every few weeks. Those little puppies really start to add up.

make-money


Swagbucks

swagbucksHow many times do you search for something online? For me it’s a few times a day. If I can get rewarded for something I do anyway, I should take advantage, right?

Swagbucks awards “bucks” for web searches, a daily poll, playing games, daily tasks, watching videos, and many other ways. Collect your bucks to redeem rewards. I like Amazon gift cards, but there are many more choices. Refer friends to earn even more bucks.


Be Rewarded with the Web's Premiere Rewards Site

Remember to install the Swagbucks Toolbar for a daily point you don’t even have to think about. Click here to join.

 

Bing

bing logo

Bing is so easy, and you can count on your daily points. You get 1 point for every 2 web searches, 1 point for every 2 mobile searches, and 1 point for each extra credit search. Make Bing your homepage, click through the popular searches, and bam! you’ve got your points for the day. When you get to silver status, your referrer gets rewarded with 500 points – so refer your friends to get those points for yourself. When you get to gold status, you get discounts on the rewards you redeem.

Steve earns his Bing points at work, then he redeems his points for GameStop gift cards that he uses to feed his addiction. He plays one video game and they release a new version every year, so he ends up paying half price for his yearly fix after he has redeemed his reward points. You already know I’m a fan of Amazon gift cards, and they are an option in this reward store, too.

Click here to join.

 

Do you have a favorite way to make some extra money?

Disclaimer: These are referral links. I will get some reward points when you use my links to sign up.

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by Melanie

August 2014 Visiting Teaching Printable

August 11, 2014 in Family Room by Melanie

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Why is it that summer visiting teaching always seems to be so tricky? Instead of loads of free time and open schedules, it is harder than ever to coordinate calendars and get those visits in.

I admit I was a pretty horrible visiting teacher this summer, but now that school is starting I’m ready to be awesome, so I got it done early this month. :)

I love that the visiting teaching messages this year are all about Jesus Christ. This month‘s focus is all about His role as Messiah.

"Jesus Christ will ever be at our side. He will fight our battles. He is our hope." I love this quote from the August visiting teaching message.



I love this quote: “[Jesus Christ] will ever be at our side. He will fight our battles. He is our hope; He is our salvation; He is the way.” -Dieter F. Uchtdorf

Life is full of hard times and challenges we have to endure, but we are never alone – no matter what! Jesus Christ is always at our side. Nothing brings me more hope than knowing my Savior is fighting my battles with me.

I delivered these notes with a little plate of cookies to my sisters this month. If you would like this note, you can download the full-size file to print out a 4×6 card by clicking the photo above or 4 quarter-sheet cards by clicking on the photo below.

"Jesus Christ will ever be at our side. He will fight our battles. He is our hope." I love this quote from the August visiting teaching message.Or you can find them on the Printables page. Happy visiting!

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by Melanie

Chocolate-Dipped Mickey Treats

July 24, 2014 in Kitchen by Melanie

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I absolutely love summer vacation. Of course, I will be doing a happy dance on the first day of school… but I adore all of the time I get to spend with my little cuties all summer long.

Emily at Nap-time Creations has put together an amazing series all about Summer fun! Today I get to play along and share some fun I have had with my kiddos this summer.

My girls and I love playing in the kitchen together — especially when chocolate is involved! There are 6 girls living in this house. You can imagine how much chocolate we consume…

We also love all things Disney. So we decided to combine our love of Disney and our love of chocolate with this fun treat.

mickey-treats


So simple. So fun. So tasty.

Start by mixing up a batch of Rice Krispie Treats. My recipe looks a little something like this: melt a cube of butter, add a bag of marshmallows and mix until only a few lumps remain. Then add 9 cups of Rice Krispies and mix it up until it’s all nice and gooey. mmmmm…

Pour the treats into a pan. You’re going to want them pretty thin, so a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan is ideal. Normally I don’t worry about hills and valleys in my Rice Krispie Treats, but today we need them pretty flat. There’s probably a fancy tool for that, but I stick a sandwich bag on my hand, spray it with non-stick cooking spray, and flatten away with my magic non-stick glove. I’m fancy like that. I try not to pound them down too much so they’re still light and fluffy.

When you have the gooey mess all spread out, set them aside while they cool a bit. Now you’re going to need some cookie cutters, popsicle sticks, chocolate chips, oil, bowls, spoons, and wax paper.

I understand that not everyone is a Disney nut like me, so it’s okay if you would rather choose another shape for your treats. But there’s just something about a Mickey shape that makes things taste better. I mean, would you rather have boring old pancakes or Mickey pancakes? Mickey, amiright? Every time. Whatever shape you choose, you’re going to want deep cookie cutters that will let you cut all the way through the treats. We made big ones and small ones because we love variety, and these cookie cutters were perfect!

the small one and the big one (affiliate link).

Now that you have your cookie cutters all ready to go, pull out that fabulous pan of Rice Krispie treats again and start cutting! We got through the whole pan and had a bunch of scraps left over. Since we did it when the treats were still warm (not burning… just warm), we were able to take those little pieces and smash them together in the cookie cutter to make even more shapes! We didn’t waste a single bit. Of course, we did eat a bunch of the little pieces, too…

Stick a popsicle stick into each treat. What is it about putting something on a stick that makes it seem like a party? My girls were ready to gobble these cute little guys up right there, but they were able to restrain themselves when I reminded them about the chocolate.

mickey2

Mmmmm, chocolate. We used milk and white chocolate chips and melted each in a bowl in the microwave. You don’t want to burn your chocolate, so just zap it for 10-15 seconds at a time until it’s all melted. Then add a bit of oil to keep it soft. See where we’re going with this? The girls were bouncing with excitement by this time.

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Grab a cute little Mickey treat on a stick and dip his ears in that chocolate. Drizzle the other chocolate over the top. Chocolate dipping was definitely everyone’s favorite part.

mickey3

It was serious business.

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Some of us had to be a little more exact with our ‘dipping.” Steve makes that exact same face.

mickey1

Actually, we had big bowls that weren’t very full of chocolate. We ended up painting our chocolate on with a spoon. It would have been a lot easier to dip with more chocolate in the bowl. I will definitely remember that for next time. Still yummy.

We loved milk chocolate ears with white chocolate drizzle. Sometimes we didn’t stop at the ears. Chocolate frosted Mickeys with drizzled white chocolate are divine!

mickey6

When Mickey’s ears are all decorated in chocolate, set them aside on wax paper until they’re cool enough to not burn your tongue… because seriously, why on earth would you wait any longer than that… and enjoy!

Share with someone you love.

mickey8

Or don’t.

mickey9

 

You could get even fancier with the decorations and add sprinkles, candy or nuts. What fun treats are you making with your kids this summer?

mickey4

Check out the rest of this week’s Summer Fun ideas: fun treats to eat while you read. Sounds like the perfect summer fun to me!!

summerfun part 8

Chocolate Dipped Mickey Treats from Forty Eighteen- yum!

My Overstuffed Life is sharing How to Host a Summer Book Club for Kids- FUN!

And last be sure to check out this delicious Banana Strawberry Cream Pie at I Dig Pinterest.

Head over to Nap-Time Creations to see lots of other ideas for Summer Fun… like all of this amazing fun they had last week!
summer fun 7

Crochet Nautical Handbag by the Stitchin’ Mommy

Strawberry Shortcake by O Taste and See

Mini Greenhouse by Sugar Tart Crafts on Nap-Time Creations

You can even hop on over to Nap-Time Creations to enter TWO great giveaways! Good luck!!

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by Melanie

Teaching Primary Music: Seek the Lord Early

July 23, 2014 in Family Room by Melanie

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We’re getting ready to go camping, so this is going to be short and sweet.

If you’re following along with the sharing time outline, you’re probably teaching Seek the Lord Early in August. I was asked to start teaching this song to our primary kids a few weeks ago, so I put together these cute little visuals to help.

seek-the-lord-early


I cut each page in half so each picture represents a phrase  and put them up on the board. As we learned it, I had the kids take down a sign or two at a time until they could sing it without any help. Senior learned the whole thing in a day, and we covered about half with junior. Of course, I’m not sure how much they actually remembered when the real chorister was back the next week…

Find the files to download at this link.

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by Melanie

Teaching Primary Music: To Be A Pioneer

July 19, 2014 in Family Room by Melanie

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If you’re looking for some help with primary music time tomorrow (could this be any more last minute???) and want to teach a great pioneer song, let me be your lifesaver.

To Be A Pioneer teaches a great lesson about what it means to be a pioneer – and it’s simple enough to teach in one try! It might take a little longer to sing the two parts together, but it’s so fun and the kids love it.

2Bapioneer


The first verse is full of “You don’t have to…” things that the old-time pioneers did. Since they’re “don’ts,” those are all shaped like stop signs.

The second verse is full of “You do have to…” things that we can do today to be pioneers. Since they’re “do’s,” those are all shaped like green lights. The picture cues for the second verse gave me a great chance to talk about Nephi’s courage, Daniels’ faith, and David’s fight with might for a cause that’s right.

Each verse ends with “To be a pioneer,” so there are 2 identical signs for that.

I thought I would only have time to teach the second part to senior, so I just wrote out the words for them. The last line is only sung the first time through, so it’s a little lighter to remind them it’s different.

I cut these out, laminated them (because I am completely addicted to my laminator), and stuck them to craft sticks. Simple to make, great to work with, and easy for the kids to help hold.

Find the files to download at this link. Happy singing!

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