Archive for the ‘She Said’ Category

Well, He was, that’s all.

Christians should know better than anyone else – God designed our bodies to make the perfect nourishment for our babies, just like He designed our bodies to bear the children, and our hearts to nurture them.

One of the names the Catholics have for Mary is “Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto” – Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Childbirth.

There’s a beautiful chapel housing this statue (a replica, as sadly the original was lost in a fire) up in St. Augustine, Florida – the oldest city in the United States.

There is a church, gift shop, and other historical markers at the Mission – well worth a look if you’re in the area.

And, naturally…

We only have one vehicle, so Wolf rides the bus/train/bus to get to and from work. Last week he came home with an alarming story, and the cell phone picture to prove it.

Dadeland Station is a transit hub. It is the South end of the train line, and a stop for all the area busses.

As he walked into the lobby one morning, he was greeted by an enormous round decal in the center of the floor – a swimming pool. And there, underfoot, life-sized or better, was a woman floating on a raft in a teeny bikini.

To see for yourself, you can View the Picture (naturally, this comes with my advisory that it is an immodest image).

I am aware that “most people” wouldn’t be offended by the picutre, which they would probably argue is entirely non-sexual. (Don’t get me started on how far society has slipped down the slope of accepting indecency!)

But I find it appaling that such a thing would be so rudely thrust “in your face” in a government agency location.

It is wholly unacceptable for the government to be so avidly promoting something which offends the morals and “strongly held religious beliefs” of a sizeable segment of the population.

Not to mention those people who have other issues:

• Men and boys trying to control their hormones (lust)
• Women who feel lowered self-esteem from the unfair comparison
• Those who might be triggered in their struggle with PTSD from past abuse
• “Sex addicts”
• Mothers who don’t feel it’s appropriate for the children they have with them
• People who find it disrespectful to be stepping all over a lady
• And on and on…

Yes, images like this (sadly) are “everywhere” today, but I find two main differences here.

One is the lack of ability to “opt out.”

Magazines and catalogs we can choose to keep out of our lives. I certainly don’t get lingerie catalogs, but I also don’t even get Lands’ End or other catalogs with swimwear (remember the Lands End Facebook debacle?).

Movies and TV we can choose not to watch. Billboards we have to look the other way.

But what about this?

In the lobby of the train station – a portal through which people must pass. And underfoot, where they must look at it at least somewhat (or risk tripping because they aren’t watching where they are going!).

This is far more… invasive? intrusive? forced upon you?

The second, touched upon above, is the government involvement.

By placing this ad in a County facility, the government is endorsing, sponsoring, and profiting from (a) immodesty and immorality, and (b) the discomfort and alienation of a lot of people.

Will you join me in letting them know this should be removed?

Mayor Carlos Alvarez
mayor (at) miamidade.gov

Michael De Cossio
Chief, Transit Advertising & Media Relations
Mike1 (at) miamidade.gov

(Modesty disclaimer – photos of shirtless young men are used to illustrate this story, below)

Political Correctness is so ridiculous, I continue to be amazed.

I do “mystery shopping” from time to time. It earns me a few dollars, or free stuff, and it’s flexible…

But filling out the survey forms is getting harder and harder.

Naturally, you are expected to identify the employee with whom you interact during your visit. Sometimes the name is enough, but if you can’t get the name (and sometimes even if you do) they want a description.

Except, as it turns out, you are strictly prohibited from discussing certain attributes that could be politically incorrect or sensitive.

I cannot mention a person’s race or skin color.

While I understand that this can be used in an offensive way, it is also true that it is a very useful means of identifying someone out of a small pool of choices (such as the employees who were working at a given time).

I cannot mention a person’s weight or size.

Again, I know that you can insult someone by labeling them as “fat”… But, again, differentiating between a stocky individual and a very thin individual can be very useful.

It got me to thinking…

If I were primarily concerned with political correctness, I would describe Nick as:

Young man, about 6′ tall, dark curly hair.

Hmmm. Not much more I can say, right?

But, based on that, my son could be this guy:

Or, just as easily, this guy:

Wouldn’t it make more sense to be accurate?

My son is a stocky, very fair skinned person.

The other young man pictured is very thin, and darker skinned.

Is that cruel, insulting, or unfair?

No. It’s simply the truth.

As Christians, we need to be committed to speaking the truth in love. All the time.

Women in Our House wear skirts and dresses only, and I know that for a lot of you (even if God has been prickling your conscience about femininity) that seems odd, or too hard, or awkward.

Well, the lovely Miss Jocelyn (I interviewed her for a Modesty Monday) started a terrific feature over at her blog magazine Feelin’ Feminine: The Challenge.

Wear only skirts/dresses for a week (seven days). Mix and match to make outfits if you don’t have enough. Try a different hairstyle each day, too, just for fun.

At the end of the week, look back and compare it to your regular way of dress. These questions of Jocelyn’s can help you evaluate your week:

• How was the experience for you?
• Any particular stories?
• Did wearing skirts rather than pants affect the way you felt?
• The way you felt about yourself?
• The way you acted?
• The way you carried yourself?
• Were you able to go about everyday activity as freely as pants?
• How did people respond?
• Were you more respected?
• Did you feel more like a lady?
• After the challenge do you desire to keep wearing skirts more regularly, or were you desperate to wear pants again?

The Challenge has been such an inspiration that it is now a regular feature, hosted at a different fan’s blog each month. For March, we’re going to be walking through our week with Simply Sarah-Anne.

How about it?

Why not accept this challange, and give it a week?

Leave a comment and let me know if you’re walking with us. And I’d love to have your thoughts (and photos?) afterwards!

The second half of my saga of struggling with breastfeeding in spite of the medical profession is now posted over at Mommy News & Views…

Stop by and have a read!

Ever wanted to see a map of cities with Christian Churches to A.D. 100? A chart comparing and contrasting couples in love in the Bible? An overview of the Levitical Offerings?

Well now you can! In Nelson’s Complete Book of Bible Maps and Charts, 3rd Edition. And yeah, it has the more “common” stuff, too…

This book is a biggie – over 450 pages of content.

It has a plethora of amazing maps, charts and tables, which would be a great resource for your home study, a Sunday School class, or small group study. The charts are full-color, most are a clean full-page layout, and they’ve even made them available as .pdf files online!

The maps are beautiful, and show the locations of numerous events, places, journeys, and stories in the Bible. The only thing I would have wished for here was a little more modern comparison – what occupies that space TODAY, not just what ancient city was it near.

There are amazing charts and diagrams, which pull together a lot of facts in a handy reference. Everything from the women of the New Testament, to the prophesies of Christ, to the images of God in the Psalms.

This is without a doubt the highlight of the book, in my opinion. These charts pull together facts in an easy to find way, saving you hours of research time (or giving up) when you say to yourself, “wasn’t there another church Paul founded with Barnabas?” (Okay, we’re admitting we are total nerds. But yeah, we do have those kinds of conversations around here).

There is also a lot (a LOT) of text , which I find more problematic.

It provides the basic information about each book – date written, author, outline, etc. But there is a lot more, including summaries and explanations, that seems to veer dangerously close to creating a “Cliff Notes: The Bible”.

This is definately a book any serious (or curious) Bible student should have on their shelf.

.

I received this product free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program; I was not compensated in any other way for this review. This review has not been approved or edited by anyone.
I was “disclosing” before it was cool. See my Review Policy for the full scoop.

Nail polish isn’t something we’re big on in our house – no acrylic nails, no fire engine red manicures… It’s part of that whole vain outward adornment thing that we try to avoid.

On top of that, there’s the toxicity of fingernail polish (and remover), that makes me totally unwilling to “go there”.

But we do still struggle with even the limited media and social exposure our kids get… Princesses obviously have on makeup and nail polish, you see.

Enter Piggy Paint. Natural as… mud?

Piggy Paint™ is specially formulated from God’s natural ingredients and dries to a hard, durable finish. There are no toxic chemicals; it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone.

This sounds like just the thing!!

Their website declares it to be:

• Non-toxic
• Low Odor
• Water-based formula
• Hypoallergenic
• Fun, vibrant colors
• Dries to a hard, durable finish

We received a bottle of Girls Rule, a lovely metallic purple, and a bottle of their Polish Remover (also terrifically non-toxic and low-odor). (Check out the rest of their fun colors!)

Princess J was delighted when I told her it was “beauty spa” day and sat her down to paint. We discussed my plan that we would only do our toe nails, so it would be just for us to enjoy together at home.

Since Piggy Paint lacks a lot of the chemicals of “regular” polish, they recommend that you cure it with a hair dryer. Not having one handy, we went for option two – paint in the evening so it can dry overnight.

Since Jewel is new to nail polish, we just did one coat to check it out. I was delighted how bright and vivid the color looked with just one coat!

And I was very impressed with how well it has held up, between being only one coat and not having been heat dried. We’ve been calling her “Princess Purple Toes” for almost a week now.

I absolutely recommend this as a fun, safe, eco-friendly treat for your own little princess. I admit I was initially put off by the price, but the peace of mind that this product brings is, to quote a currently-much-overused phrase… Priceless. (There are also sales and discounts – keep reading!)

Send me in a photo if you try it, and we’ll do a “toe gallery” photo follow-up!

BUY SOME! Piggy Paint is available at a variety of online and brick & mortar retailers nationwide, but right now you can get a special deal if you shop at their website.

Until the end of February, use the code KISSES15L for 15% off any order. If you miss that, my readers can use the code HOUSE10L to get 10% off any order until the end of April! They always offer FREE SHIPPING (domestic) on orders of $25 or more (March 1 this increases to $35), and they do ship internationally.

You can also follow Piggy Paint on Twitter and Facebook to be notified of additional sales and promotions.

.

I received this product free from Piggy Paint; I was not compensated in any other way for this review. This review has not been approved or edited by anyone.
I was “disclosing” before it was cool. See my Review Policy for the full scoop.

…and I’m not taking the Lord’s name lightly when I say that!

Let me back up just a tad, so you know what’s happening:

As I mentioned, Wolf’s dad was recently diagnosed (re-)diagnosed with lung cancer. (To get more back story there, search Wolf’s posts or “cancer” over at Life on the Road).

Wolf was anxious to see his father, and just be with him in person. He has only been up there twice, and briefly, since we came to Florida two-and-a-half years ago. Tom’s recovery from throat cancer treatment has been slow, painful, and fraught with setbacks. We have nervously wondered from time to time if he had enough fight left in him to keep working through it.

Since we’ve been isolated here in Floria, Tom has also never met his new grandson.

So… We are now in Mississippi for a four day visit (plus two days’ driving on either end). This was a challenge to accomplish, on a lot of levels.

Challenge #1 – The Money (First Verse)

How could we even begin to consider a trip that would be hundreds of dollars in gas, plus hotels and food, on top of Wolf having to take time off work?

We essentially can’t take the RV because of the logistical situation of our current parking location. It would also have made our gas costs a lot higher and the trip a lot slower, so we quickly ruled it out.

So we started stepping forward in faith.

Wolf talked to his employer, St. Stephen’s Episcopal Day School and they were very gracious. Even though he is a fairly new, low-ranking, hourly employee, they said he was entitled to nine days of paid personal leave. He scheduled the time (a week out), and that was that. It was everything you might hope for, but so rarely encounter, even from a “Christian” business.

Help also came from unlikely places. A relative who Wolf talked to about the situation agreed that it was important for us to go, and declared that they were putting a check in the mail. That generous gift would be enough to cover our hotel and gas for the whole trip.

It didn’t seem feasible to rule out eating out entirely, but we worked diligently to cut the costs. We made sure our hotel room had a microwave and a fridge, and we packed well: Milk, bread, peanut butter, instant oatmeal, sandwich fixins, string cheese, yogurt… (We are once again thankful we invested some time ago in a Coleman cooler that can heat or cool on the road!)

Challenge #2 – Nick’s School

Apparently, taking Nick out of school for six days would have severe repercussions.

Hindsight is 20/20, but the problem wouldn’t exist except that Nick already has 5 absences from the first half of the year (more in some classes, from bad appearances in pep rallies and so forth). These were all illness absences, but are on the record-book as “unexcused” because he failed to turn in the notes I wrote. This can’t be corrected retro-actively, as such notes must be filed within three days of the student’s return.

So when we picked our dates, I emailed all of Nick’s teachers, plus his counselor, informing them of the planned absence and asking that they provide his work so that he could keep up while we were gone.

The teachers were no problem. But I soon learned that any student with more than 10 unexcused absances for the year would not be able to receive their final grades and credit for the year… and that this would be considered an unexcused absence since Nick was not ill and there was not a death.

Between a local teacher friend on Facebook and talking with the counselor, I determined that the absence could be approved as an excused absence. I would need to talk to the Assistant Principal in charge of such things – Mr. Evans. Mr. Evans (like most APs apparently) is overworked, and I had no luck reaching him by email or phone, or even getting in touch with someone to make me an appointment to see him.

So on Monday (T Minus 2 Days) I drove Nick to school, then went and sat in the office.

Mr. Evans came in from his morning “traffic cop” duties, and agreed to speak to me for a moment before the appointment he had waiting (how did she get an appointment??). In about 30 seconds he confirmed that he had read my email and understood the situation, I allayed his fears about Nick being missing from an important District count (since he would be present Monday and Tuesday), and he said the absence would be approved as excused.

Whew!

I thought we wee home free, until I got a call from the counselor later in the day. She told me that was only half the battle.

The school has the authority to designate the absence as excused or unexcused. But there is an additional District rule stating that students with more than 10 absences regardless of whether they are excused are not permitted to participate in extra-curricular activities. For Nick this would mean taking an “F” for not participating in several remaining Concert Band performances.

We can still get it worked out, but this one is out of my hands. His counselor is sending in an appeal to the District, and she assures me that she has had all previously-filed appeals approved.

It is left unfinished, but we’re trusting.

Challenge #3 – The Money (Second Verse)

To keep the expenses low, we were trying to find the cheapest hotel room we could… But it’s not as easy as it sounds.

With a family of five, we have demanding requirements. For one night on the road we can manage in two double beds, but for a five-night stay it’s just not workable (not to mention, in many cases, not allowed by code).

Wolf spent a good while in frustrated online searching.

He got different rates and options depending on whether he searched through Expedia, or Yahoo, or accessed the hotels’ sites directly. He finally thought he had it pinned down, but when he called to make the reservation they said they did not offer roll-away beds (even though the site listed them, complete with price).

Finally, we got a reservation at a second place. It had some dubious reviews, but all were more than a year old. The next closest hotel in price was almost double, so we were really hoping this one would work.

We arrived in Columbus, Mississippi on a cold, rainy afternoon. We sent up a last little prayer as Wolf went to check in, and we had our first look at the room.

It was… fine. Small, as in “where the heck do they think we’re going to put a roll-away in here?”, somewhat run-down, but clean and workable.

Looking out the front door and window we could see the Lobby… and the Bar & Grill. Uh-oh.

Wolf went to the office and asked them about the bar noise. The clerk confirmed that there was going to be some noise from patrons, as well as a DJ, until 2 am nightly, in any of the rooms facing the main courtyard.

She gave him the key to a room on the backside of the building, and we went to check it out.

It was essentially identical to the room on the front side… except that it smelled like cigarette smoke. It had a non-smoking placard on the door, but there was an ashtray in it, and the nauseating smell.

Since this hasn’t come up on the blog before, let me digress just a tad. I don’t want to take away a persn’s freedom to smoke if they want to – although I certainly believe that it is a wrong thing to do to your body as a temple. But I don’t want to be exposed to the health risks of second-hand smoke, and I definately don’t want my kids to be. And the biggest problem is that cigarette smoke is a quick and sure trigger for my migraines.

So, no way on the smoking room.

This time we all trooped back to the office, pleading for another option. She gave us another key.

This room is a suite. It has a living room, doubling the overall space of the room, and a sleeper sofa provides a full-sized alternative to a roll-away bed.

…and the clerk gave it to us for the price we had already paid.

Thank God!

Without His provision, this trip would clearly have been impossible… Several times over.

I’m glad we serve such a loving Father!

Welcome, one and all, to the Carnival of Homeschooling!

It’s been a rough time for us lately… Unemployment… New job, but underemployed, and having to move out of our house… Living in the RV with three kids and four cats…

And we just learned that my Father-in-Law has been diagnosed with lung cancer (He’s going through a troubled recovery from throat cancer, beginning two years ago, and his wife has just been through a bout with cancer as well). We’ll be heading for Mississippi tomorrow to spend a week with the family there.

Nothing like struggles to make you re-evaluate your priorities!

With that in mind, I present this, the

Carnival of Homeschooling – “What Matters Most” Edition

To my regular readers, I feel I must add the disclaimer. Since this carnival is open to all homeschooling bloggers, there may be sites and content here that I would not otherwise link from this blog. I have indicated such content, where possible.

And to the carnival participants and any new readers, a disclaimer for you, as well. Although the Carnival of Homeschooling is not Christian, I am. Please feel free to simply skip over areas of my post which do not apply to you, and enjoy the remainder.

Here, in no particular order, are some priorities that have come into focus for us recently… with this week’s bloggers illustrating my point!

What Matters: People

In this instance, it means that being with Grandpa right now is worth hubby taking time off work, pulling my marching band kid out of school for a week… Family matters more than any of that “stuff.”

Mrs. White has some great suggestions for quick and easy lessons that are fun for mom to do right alongside the kids, in Efficient Teaching Ideas for Busy Homeschooling Mothers Part Three posted at The Legacy of Home.

Laughing together is a GOOD thing – and so is cooking together! Check out Cristina’s Home Spun comic strip #440 posted at Home Spun Juggling.

Tammy relates how the 2010 Great Backyard Bird Count is about her family as much as the birds, at Adventures On Beck’s Bounty. Susan Ryan is on the same page, with Citizen Science posted at Corn and Oil.

What could be cozier quality time than reading together? Dave Roller enjoys reading to his children from Poems for Children Nowhere Near Old Enough to Vote, as he shares at Home School Dad, and Amy shares Read Aloud Thursday – including a Mr. Linky roundup of others’ read-aloud lists – at Hope Is the Word.

Susan Gaissert presents an insightful look at The Consequences of Saying Yes at The Expanding Life.

Tonya discusses people-sensitive curriculum choices, in Choices, Choices, Choices: Choosing Curriculum posted at Live the Adventure.

Lizzie just wants to touch base, and offers her School Update at A Dusty Frame.

Catherine appreciates the flexibility to meet her daughter’s specific needs, in Math Slowdown, posted at Petticoat Government.

Katherine sends out kudos to her local children’s librarian at No fighting, no biting!.

What Matters: Obeying God

Oh, so many things, but let me use an illustration I am in the process of writing a post about in and of itself: Do we tithe 10% of the unemployment check that is already not enough to pay the bills? Oh yes, we must!

Tiana Krenz’ wonderful contribution this week discusses our choice to homeschool in light of How Doing Something “Good” Can Keep You From Obeying posted at God Made, Home Grown.

Oh, the joy! Lara DeHaven shares her children’s delight in Honor Your Parents posted at Texas Homesteader.

What Doesn’t Matter: The Lastest, Newest, Trendiest…

We just plain don’t need to spend the time, energy, money, and stress chasing after or worrying about it! Sheesh! And you know what, so many times, the tried and true “old-fashioned” way works best anyway.

Jennifer Bogart shares An Oldie, But a Goodie for penmanship at Bogart Family Resources.

Perfectly on topic here, Deana describles how to Make Your Own Word Family Review Cards (for Preschool) over at The Frugal Homeschooling Mom.

Jamie describes the simple and classic methods she’s using in A day in the life… posted at Jam Side Up.

What Doesn’t Matter: Other People’s Opinions, “Conventional Wisdom”

Even the well-meaning folks don’t know your circumstances and your family the way you do. And just because “everyone says so” is absolutely no gurantee that it’s right or good in any given situation! As homeschoolers, of course, most of us have no problem being “unconventional” with our schooling – we just need to carry the mentality even further.

Summer discusses respecting her son’s developmental pace in Reading And Not Reading posted at Wired For Noise – and what a cute video! (Please be advised there is language that will be objectionable to some in this blog (including the header), although none in this specific post).

Barbara Frank invites us to reconsider – Is College Worth the Cost? at Barbara Frank Online.

Avivah allays some fears with her insightful post, Do You Have To Be Smart to Homeschool? at Oceans of Joy.

Linda Dobson explains the transition of Reinventing the Learning Lifestyle on PARENT AT THE HELM.

Amy shares her “confession” of switching to a more unschooled approach for her kids’ sake, in How To Suck the Joy Out of Learning posted at Did I Say That Outloud?.

Sarah discusses her patient philosophy of The Road to Independence, Part I on SmallWorld.

Janine reminds us that this holds true even if “other people” is a whole government, in Have you heard the news? posted at Why Homeschool.

What Matters: Honesty / Dealing With Reality

As much as we have faith that God can handle anything, nobody is served if we hide our heads in the sand and pretend that there is not a problem at the moment. This applies, in our recent life situation, to all kinds of areas – finances and health being the most obvious.

Similarly, Carol Topp, CPA warns about the danger of Fraud in a homeschool group at HomeschoolCPA.

Dolfin offers a candid look at their Hebrew-learning fruatrations in Rosetta Stone Check In posted at Lionden Landing.

Nothing says reality like a budget! Tricia Cobb presents Home Economics 102: Budgets posted at Home School MamaMi.

What Matters: Getting the Job Done

Sometimes it’s about having the right tool for the job. Sometimes it’s a skill. Often, it’s just a matter of putting one foot in front of the other, and doing whatever it takes to get ‘er done.

Here’s some tools to help:

Kim shares some terrific kids’ Cleaning Lists at Kim’s Play Place.

Char presents The Best Valentines Printables posted at Printables for Kids.

Denise presents Week 1 Worksheets posted at Blogging 2 Learn.

Dianne M. Buxton presents Your Potential To Get More Flexible – And How To Do Effective Ballet/Sports/Cheer Leading Stretching posted at Ballet Shoes and Pointe Shoes.

ChristineMM offers her selection of a Homeschool Curriculum List for My Seventh Grader 2009 to 2010 posted at The Thinking Mother.

Rachel Lynette presents 20 Question to Ask Kids posted at Minds in Bloom.

Beverly’s setting a great way to get some support and interation, with Homeschoolers Respond – Recap #3 on Beverly’s Homeschooling Blog (About.com).

Misty has collected a 2010 Winter Olympic List of Websites at Homeschool Bytes.

And last, but never least, Miss Amanda reviews some project resources in He’s a Posterboy on The Daily Planet.

What Doesn’t Matter: Perfection

Well, it was bound to happen. Somehow the email forwarding glitched, and these poor folks’ carnival entries were lost in cyber-space! Belatedly, then, here are the [ahem] first four entires this month!

Margy discusses Writing the Personal Statement at Homeschool High School.

Learn about The Power of Compound Interest in Homeschooling at Nolo Promittere.

Read some School Humor at It’s All In Here. (Please note that this blog contains some mild language and thematic elements).

Dana asks the question: Is the current Roscommon Acres.

Thank you for reading… Please let me know if you find any errors or broken links!

I want to extend my hearfelt thanks to the bloggers who submitted these interesting, challenging, and diverse posts for your reading pleasure. As always, it has been a joy to read through them all while putting the carnival together.

Please take a moment to post a link to the carnival on your blog, as well as adding it to any social bookmarking sites you use (try the “Share This” link, below) — help spread the word about homeschooling, and the carnival, and send some traffic to all these terrific folks.

Don’t forget to send in your post for next week’s carnival, as well! Just click on over to the easy submision form at Blog Carnival anytime before Monday at 6pm Pacific.

I was recently approached about doing a review of this beautiful breastfeeding book… And I had to laugh because I had purchased a copy to read with Jewel back in 2007!

I’m happy to share it with you, since it is really lovely and we have enjoyed reading our copy many, many times.

Near Mama’s Heart is the creation of Colleen Newman, available on her website My Baby & More. There’s even a Spanish-language version.

Best of all, while you’re there you can “read” the whole book in a beautiful video, totally free!

Near Mama’s Heart is even approved for use in La Leche League and Attachment Parenting International Libraries (by those respective organizations).

We have a large collection of nursing books, and this one is right there in the “favorites” pile.

The text is simple, sweet, and rhyming. Images show a wide range of mamas and babies – different races, different positions and situations, different ages of babies, even tandem nursing.

Look for, “I like to nurse like a skilled acrobat” – which, of course, Jewel felt like she needed to practice often after reading it. And the oh, so precious photo near the end with the tiny baby who can “nurse anytime, day or night.”

Personally, my only wish is that it was a board book. I like to let the littles have the nursing books to look at, since they enjoy them so much, and this is just not built to stand up to that.

Want to check it out for yourself?

You can purchase a copy from My Baby & More for $13.99 plus shipping. Use the PayPal option – Amazon.com no longer stocks it.

And one lucky As For My House reader will win a copy!

Make sure to leave your email address with each comment. (Used only to contact the winner. If your email is entered in the form it will be saved for me but not displayed).

1. Leave a comment sharing your favorite breastfeeding book. Or watch the video on Colleen’s site and tell us which image from the book is your favorite.

Extra Entries (leave separate comments for each). Once you have completed #1, you can earn additional entries by doing any or all of the following:

2. Blog about this giveaway, and link to this post. Please leave the link to your post in the comment.

3. Subscribe to As For My House by reader or email.

4. Follow Tiffany on Twitter and Tweet about this contest. Suggested Tweet:

WIN Near Mamas Heart breastfeeding book at As For My House! Ends 2/13 http://tinyurl.com/yjy8roy Please RT! @tiffanyblitz

5. Add a link to As For My House to your blogroll/sidebar/etc. Leave your URL, and location of the link, in the comment.

6. Follow As for My House on FaceBook.

7. Give As for My House a 5-Star rating on FaceBook.

8. Suggest As For My House to your FaceBook friends, or post about this give-away on FaceBook (the “Share This” link at the bottom of the page can help). (You may do both – leave two separate comments for two entries!)

9. Add As For My House to your Technorati Favorites.

10. Post/share/link to the blog or this post on your favorite *other* social media outlet – and tell me what it is. Kirtsy? Stumble Upon? What else works for you?

This giveaway ends next Saturday – February 13th at 11:59pm (Eastern).

The winner will be chosen using random.org and announced on the blog, as well as contacted by email. Winner must respond within 48 hours, or a new winner will be selected. Your book will ship directly from the author!

** Comments are now closed. Look for a new post announcing the winner! **