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Glue Dots are a Godsend to scrapbookers. Well, at least they are to me. So, when I got the chance to review some Glue Dots products, I was giddy!

I’m a mom of 3 boys, so I rarely get to do any girly scrapbooking projects. But, I do have a niece, so I jumped at the chance to make something for her!

The Mini Glue Dots are my favorite – they are PERFECT for use with small embellishments when regular adhesive just won’t work.

I used the Mini Glue Dots on the pink bow and the small button on this page. I love that Glue Dots makes small dots to use on things like buttons and bows – they’re clear and hide well on projects, but they still provide great “stickiness”!

I love the bigger Glue Dots for photo mats. I love the dispenser, too – the dots come off the paper very easily. LOVE them!

Check out the Facebook Fan Page for Glue Dots – Facebook Fan Page You’re sure to find lots of great info.

**I wrote this blog post while participating in the TwitterMoms and Glue Dots blogging contest to be eligible to receive a $30 gift card. For more information on how you can participate, click HERE**

{disclaimer – I was chosen to review myjobchart.com by BSM Media. To compensate me for my time, BSM Media sent me a ten dollar Target gift card. My thoughts on this website are mine and mine alone.}

My boys are becoming more and more interested in money. They like to earn it, but they like spending it even more. I was having some trouble coming up with the best plan for them to earn money. I knew the jobs I wanted them to complete, but needed a good plan on paper, so that we could all track what they needed to do AND how they could keep track of what they’ve done.

So, when I was approached to review myjobchart.com, I was very excited.

I’m very impressed with My Job Chart. Signing up is a breeze and the best part – it’s FREE! It gives you the option of choosing chores from a predetermined list and you’re given the option to create your own chores. Parents assign a point total to each chore and points can be given any value you choose. The website also gives you a lengthy list of rewards to use, if you choose. You’re also able to create your own rewards.

When assigning jobs for my older boys, I started easy and will work my way up as they get older. Each child has his own separate password when signing into the website. Once the chore has been completed, the child signs into the website and marks that they’ve completed the job – super easy AND they get their own little cheering section on the website Mom and Dad get an email saying that the child has completed the chore. There’s even a little section for Mom or Dad to leave a note for the child.

* Awesome site for kids AND parents.
* Super easy to use.
* Simple set up – easy for kids to navigate.
* it’s FREE!

I highly recommend this site! Enjoy

I only think it’s funny because if I think of it any other way, I might cry.

I feel like life is in fast forward. I feel everything around me flying at the speed of light, but me? I’m moving in slow motion.

I can’t do the laundry fast enough, I can’t get the dishes cleaned up fast enough. I can’t do ANYTHING fast enough. I look around and see a million things that need to be done. Half of them should have been done ages ago, but……(insert reason excuse here). Every bit of the issue with that is me. I can place blame on others for some of it, but the truth is, if I’d kept up with things, it wouldn’t have gotten this bad. So, it’s me. That means SAHM/housewife big, fat, FAIL.

However, my husband and I got the best compliment ever on Saturday night – it made my evening. We took our munchkins to Denny’s for dinner (kids eat free!). As we were getting ready to leave, a couple who had been sitting behind us stopped my husband and told him that our boys were very well mannered and behaved and we were obviously doing something right.

Now, I need the man upstairs to give me a giant swift kick in the rear. I either need life to s…l…o…w down or I need to speed up. I’ll leave that up to Him.

Today I’d like to welcome Jill and Mark Savage. Jill and Mark’s newest book Living with Less so your Family has More just released and I’ve invited them to share a little bit about this great resource!

Tell us a little bit about yourself and your family.

We have been married for 27 years…17 of them happily. After finding ourselves in a marriage counselor’s office around year 8 or so, we realized that we really didn’t know how to be married. We worked hard to turn things around and now we like to share that hope with other couples.

We have five children ranging from 13 to 25. Our oldest three are married. Anne (25) and her husband, Matt, live in Zion, IL, and are expecting our first grandchild in April. (We are very excited!) Evan (22) and his wife, Julie, have been married a year and a half and they live just a few miles from us. Erica (19) married her husband Kendall last September. They live in Augusta, GA, and wherever else the Army takes them.

We have two teenagers still at home. Kolya just turned 16. He’s learning to drive and we’ve nearly worn a hole in the carpet on the floor in the passenger seat trying to find that non-existent brake pedal. Kolya is the newest member of the Savage family. We adopted him at the age of nine from Russia.

Austin is 13 and in the 8th grade. He wants us to make sure and tell the world that this “living with less” life is a real bummer because he’s the ONLY kid in 8th grade who doesn’t have a cell phone.

Tell us about your newest book Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

The world screams the message that bigger is always better, but we have found that is not often true. When it comes to raising a family, less materially can actually result in more relationally. Children don’t need the best houses, the best lessons, the best cars, or the best clothes. What they really need is the best home life and the best family relationships we can give them.

Why did you want to write this book?

We didn’t start out with the “less is more” mindset. We started as a double income family wanting to have the “best” of everything. Then Mark decided to pursue ministry. We went from the “high life” to the “frugal life” very quickly as we moved to another state for him to go to Bible College full-time.

That experience introduced us to the concept that less is more. We definitely had less money, but we had more time. We had less stress and more peace. We had less activities and more fun.

Since that experience, we’ve continued to live primarily on one income for the past twenty years. We’ve had to battle cultural peer pressure and make different decisions for our family than many other families in our neighborhood have made. But we’ve never felt that we were materially depriving ourselves or our kids…instead we’ve focused on what we’ve actually been able to provide for them emotionally and relationally.

What do you hope your readers will gain from this book?

We hope the reader is encouraged to evaluate how they are living their life, spending their money, and thinking about family matters. Our goal is to introduce families to the “less is more” concept and then equip them with the attitudes and actions to actually make that happen.

For families that are already committed to less is more, we hope to bolster their resolve and help them stay focused on the long-term goal of providing relationally for their kids.

In today’s economy, there are many families being forced to live with less. We want to help them see the opportunity they have with this unexpected downsizing they’ve been forced to do.

And for those who have just been a little discontent with their life and saying things like, “I’m tired of the rat race of life,” or “Is there more to life than drive-thru meals for dinner?” we hope to help them see other choices they have and how they can lead their family in a different direction.

What unique elements will the reader find in Living With Less So Your Family Has More?

For couples who want to read the book together, we’ve included discussion questions at the end of every chapter. This helps move the readers to discussion and eventually actions. Even a single parent can use the discussion questions for personal evaluation.

Readers will find this book a practical guide to changing your attitude and your actions to live a successful “less is more” life. They’ll find our writing style to be a warm, casual, honest discussion where we not only share our victories but our mistakes along the way. We are an average couple living successfully on an average income who want to help others to see the possibilities before them.

This is a Hearts at Home book. What is Hearts at Home?

Hearts at Home is an organization that encourages, educates, and equips women in the profession of motherhood. Hearts at Home encourages moms through annual conferences, our extensive website (www.hearts-at-home.org), a free electronic newsletter, a radio program, and an entire line of books designed to meet the needs of moms all over the world!

Any closing thoughts?

It’s healthy for parents to occasionally pause and evaluate their vision for their family and the choices they are making. We hope this resource will help them do that together and that it will lead them to live a life of little regret.

For EVERY birthday, we go to Toys R’ Us. The birthday boy is given a crown, a balloon AND they announce his birthday on the intercom throughout the whole store. So, people who are shopping in the store can wish him a happy birthday. The employees love seeing the kids walking around and always wish them a happy birthday. My boys LOVE it.

(The church from The Sound of Music – Salzburg, Austria)

8 years. 8 years of loads of ups and loads of downs. He has less hair and I have more stretch marks. We both have a little bit more around the middle, too.

We got married in the courthouse, in downtown Annapolis, Maryland. We had no attendants or witnesses – it was just us. We stopped on our way to the courthouse, to buy a small bouquet. I still have the receipt.

We were married by a VERY animated man, who served as both our official AND our photographer. We had a disposable camera – as he was having us recite our vows, he was snapping pictures. We tried REALLY hard not to laugh.

After we were officially married, we walked to our favorite bar and had yummy cheese fries and cheap champagne.

I remember standing at the top of Main Street, downtown. B was on the phone and I was looking down at the harbour. I remember so vividly thinking that I had just done the most perfect thing for myself. I had spent years doing perfect things for other people, whether or not they were perfect for me. I had finally done something for myself. I was thrilled to be married to Brian. I am still thrilled, 8 years later.

Happy Anniversary, my love.

and now, he’s one and a half. This morning, I had several moms at the school my older boys attend ask how old Henry was. I had one mom say she remembered when I was pregnant with him. I remember it, too. Like it was yesterday.

Eighteen months have flown by – much, much faster than I’d like. He’s turned into such an awesome, fun little boy with a big personality. I’m afraid that I’m going to blink again and then, he’ll be on his way to Kindergarten. He starts day care on Monday – just one day a week. I’ll use that one day a week for doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, hair appointments AND to help in the classrooms of my other 2 boys. I’m hoping Henry will spend those days learning and playing with other little kids. I, too, hope that he’ll want to come back to his mama at the end of day care day. Mama can only handle so many hours of being away.