My Review of The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead

The Skin Map by Stephen Lawhead is a fantasy novel in which we meet several characters, centering around Kit and his girlfriend Wilhemina, who travel through time. One day, Kit, who is in modern day London, meets a mysterious old man who claims to be his great grandfather who travels throughout time. Kit is skeptical until his grandfather shows him that he is telling the truth. Upon his arrival back to current day London, he proceeds to his girlfriend's house to discover that he is several hours late. When Wilhemina is upset with him, he tries to explain and, of course, Wilhemina does not believe his outrageous tale. Kit then offers to show her what happened to him.
When Kit and Wilhemina arrive at the ley and make the jump through time, they become separated. Kit lands in the time period with his great grandfather tells what has happened and the search for Wilhemina begins. She could be in any number of ley intersections and the future of the time period that she is in can be altered.
The leys through which the time travel is made possible is extremely complicated and dangerous, thus constituting the need for a map. Because of the importance of the map, one of the travellers tattooed the map onto his chest to prevent it from ever being lost.
As each of the characters travels to the different time periods, choices are made that can alter the history of the universe, therefore, chaos can ensue.
Of course, there is evil to conquer as there are some in the search of the skin map who have plans to use it for their own good.
I have to say that I was disappointed when I finished the book because I felt like I had not fully understood why the story ended the way that it did. There were no conclusions written and all of the characters were left with their situations not resolved. Then, I discovered that this book is the first in a series. So I am anxious to read the remaining two books. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys science fiction or fantasy reading.
I was provided with a copy of this book by Book Sneeze in exchange for my review.

My Review of Beyond All Measure by Dorothy Love

Beyond All Measure by Dorothy Love is one of those stories that easily sweeps you away into its pages. Lovely Ada Wentworth has left her home in Boston to become a companion for an elderly lady in Tennessee. When Ada arrives in Hickory Ridge, the situation that meets her is not what she had been told. The job that awaits her requires more than she was told, many of the people of Hickory Ridge are not accepting of her because she is a Yankee, and her plans to start a hat making business seem destined to be squelched by her employer's nephew, Wyatt. Despite the intial clash between Ada and Wyatt, the spark between them is undeniable and love soon blossoms. However, Ada is hesitant to allow herself to love and trust another man because she feels betrayed by her father and her former fiance who broke their engagement. Ada also finds herself at odds with members of the Klan because of her determination to help Sophie, a young girl who she has befriended who is of mixed race. Will Ada do the right thing and continue to help Sophie, in spite of threats against her? Will Sophie allow herself to trust the man she loves?
Dorothy Love has written a beautiful story that captures your heart from the beginning chapter and holds your attention until the last page. The variety of characters were interesting and well developed. The attitudes and prejudices of the time period were defined and gave the reader food for thought. I greatly enjoyed reading this book and recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading a classic love story. While this is a Christian fictional novel, the Biblical themes were woven into the story, but did not come across as "preachy".
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book by BookSneeze in exchange for my review.

My Review of The Book that Made Your World by Vishal Mangalwadi

The Book That Made Your World by Vishal Mangalwadi explores how the Bible is the primary influence of Western civilization today. The author is very well spoken and his attention to research and documentation is very evident. Vishal Mangalwadi is from India and so his perspective is unique and I was appreciative of his insight of other cultures and his observation of the American culture as one who is not native to the USA.
This thought provoking book coves a wide range of issues. The author compares and contrasts different cultures around the world and how their cultures are affected by their use (or lack of) Bible principles. He also compares and contrasts different religions with Christianity and how the people in each religion are affected by the practice of the guidelines set by each religion.
Among the issues that Mangalwadi discusses are the following topics:
Education
Literature
Technology
Science
Literature
Morality
Family
Wealth
Liberty

Mangalwadi discusses each topic in a chapter and clearly shows how the Bible has been a positive impact and driving force for the good of each of these areas. He gave clear historical evidence of how the use of Biblical standards of morality have opened doors for the advancement of society, including all of the the above listed topics as well as others.
While I highly recommend this book, I must say that this is not a quick and easy read. The author gives the reader a lot to think about and for me, I had to read it slower than I read most books because I felt like I wanted to think about what he was saying more in depth than most books that I read. I feel that this book is a must read for everyone, Christian and non Christian alike.
I was provided with a copy of this book in exchange for my review by Book Sneeze.

Getting More Coupon Ideas

How Do I Get a Coupon Stash?My experience has been that once you start looking for coupons, they are really easy to find!! Here are a few ways that I get mine.
Sunday newspaper
Online sites (coupons.com)
Electronic coupons (shortcuts.com, cellfire.com, Kroger.com)
Ordering from websites (The Coupon Clippers, Coupons N Things)
Looking inside or on boxes of products I have purchased
Blinkie machines
Joining product and restaurant websites email lists (They send you coupons and links, email and regular mail) (vocalpoint.com)
Call or email companies and ask for them
Checking my blogs (they always post links)
Magazines (All You is a great one! This month’s issue had about $50 worth)
Ebay
Catalinas
Electronic coupons (shortcuts.com and cellfire.com) also Kroger has some on their site
Swapping with friends
Coupon trains

Coupon OrganizationThere are several different ways to organize your coupons. I have tried a couple. I have used the method used by coupon mom, which is where the site tells you what is on sale and what coupons are in each flyer from the newspaper. You don’t clip coupons. You write the date on the coupon flyer and then you reference the site to see which coupons match up with what is on sale. This method was a great starting method for me and it helped train me how to work the coupon system with my stores. I still use the site some.
I outgrew that method because I had many more coupons than just my Sunday coupons, so I was not able to use the system as effectively. Currently, I am using a card box with my coupons clipped and organized by category. The card box is small enough to carry with me into the store and I am able to get to the coupons that I need quickly if I find additional items on sale.
However, I am told that this method is yet another stepping stone and that I will soon outgrow it as well and have to step up to another method. J This link gives several ideas of organizational methods.

http://moneysavingmom.typepad.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/organizational.html

Getting Paid to Shop at CVS and Walgreens

I get a lot of questions about how I save so much money with CVS. So here is the scoop on how the system works. The following links explain it in detail. But I will give you an overview of how I use it.


Basically, the store offers Extra Care Bucks (ECB’s) on certain items each week. ECB’s are store credit. So you buy items that generate ECB’s and then use the ECB’s to purchase items the next visit that will generate MORE ECB’s and the process continues. Once you start the process, you just continue to buy items with your ECB’s and when combined with strategically chosen coupons, you save money. I very rarely spend more than $5 out of pocket at CVS. Most of the time, after the ECB’s that I make on my shopping trip, CVS had more or less paid me to shop there.

SOY JOY BAR Example
Buy 4 Soy Joy Bars, get 4 ECB’s (limit 5) This means I can get 20 bars
I had 3 BOGO coupons and 15 ECB’s.
My out of pocket expense was $2 and they paid me $20 in ECB’s.
So I made a profit of $18 in store credit.
CVS accepts coupons at face value, however you can “stack” the coupons on a single item, like I explained earlier. When I spoke with the manager, she said that they don’t have a coupon on the amount of coupons that you use in your visit. They do reserve the right to limit you, however, the sale itself will usually set a limit on how many deals you can take advantage of to get the ECB’s, even if you still use coupons for items that are not on sale.
Obviously, the first time that you shop at CVS, you will not have any ECB’s to get items for free, so you will have to spend some money out of pocket. However, once you start the process, it works very well.
They also have a green bag tag that you can keep and scan each time you shop there for using a bag you bring from home. Every 4^th visit, you get 1 ECB.
You can also join the CVS advisory panel and they will reward you with ECB’s for providing input for them.

WalgreensAlthough, I don’t use the Walgreens system, it pretty much works the same way. The link explains their system.



I should add here that stores are not losing money when you use coupons. The manufacturer reimburses them for the coupons. The managers at Kroger and CVS both said that they encourage customers to bring their coupons.http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/01/walgreens-101.htmlhttp://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/qa-making-cvs-w.htmlhttp://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/2008/03/cvs-101.html

Tips and Tricks

Tip #1
Buy what you need, BEFORE you need it. The key to saving money with coupons is to buy the items you need from the store when they are on sale and you have coupons for the item. Most stores have rotate the items that they have on sale on a 6-8 week rotation, meaning that the item will be on sale every 6-8 weeks.
So, when you get your coupons, don’t use them immediately just because you have them. Watch your sale ads and see when it goes on sale.

Tip #2
Shop the stores with the best coupon policy.
NOTE: I have found it helpful to focus on only 2 stores. If you shop every grocery store in town, then you are taking a lot of time and will be stressed out with no energy by the time you finish. If you have time to shop each store, then you will most definitely get the best deals, but most of us do not have a lifestyle that accommodates that much shopping.
There are other good deals available at other stores, but your time is also valuable. I do look at other store ads to see if there is a SUPER deal (such as low cost meat) and will make an extra stop for items such as that, but as a general rule, I limit my shopping to those 2 stores. You may enjoy shopping at other stores, but these are the stores that I have had the most success with.
Obviously, I keep an eye out for great sales at the mall for holiday and birthday gifts as well. I have had great success at JC Penney and Kohl’s with their sales and newspaper coupons.

Tip #3
Use more than 1 coupon on the same item
EXAMPLES:
1. You can use a manufacturer coupon AND a store coupon on the same item.
2. Load electronic coupons on your Kroger card. You can go to shortcuts.com or cellfire.com and load electronic coupons on your card. These e-coupons will deduct on top of any coupons used for the same item that you bring to the store with you. If there is more than one e-coupon for the same item on the different sites, my understanding is that Kroger will take 2 of them in addition to your paper coupons.
3. BOGO: When you have a BOGO coupon, most of the time you can use additional coupons with the item. The store reads the BOGO coupon and deducts the price of the second item because it sees that you purchased two items. You can then use additional $off coupons for one or both of the items. Many times the store computer calculates the BOGO coupon separately, enabling you to use a coupon per item in addition to the BOGO.
Using this method, a couple of weeks ago, I bought 2 Steamfresh Meals for Two, priced at $5.49. I had a BOGO coupon and then two $1.50/1 coupons. So I got both of the Steamfresh Meals for $2.49. This deal could have been better if the store had also had the item on sale BOGO. J
This week, there was a special on Tide for $5.88. I had a BOGO, plus a $3/1 and a .35 (tripled to $1.05) so I was able to get to full size bottles of Tide for $1.89!!!
*Also, be on the look out when you are the store for items that have a coupon sticker on them. A lot of times, the store will accept the sticker coupon in addition to the coupon you already brought with you. I was able to get some Nestle Toll House cookies very cheap this way.

Tip #4
Check the clearance bins.
You never know when you will find an item in the clearance bin that you have a coupon for!

Tip #5
Stock up!
When you find the items you need on sale and can match them up with your coupons....build your stash!!

Tip #6
Go for the younger checkers.
In saying that, I am always nice to the store employees. If there is a coupon that they refuse to take, for whatever reason, I don’t argue with them. I shop there all the time and I don’t want to get the reputation as the mean lady with all the coupons who holds up the line. I also try to shop at a time when the store is not as busy and if I can, I will let other customers go in front of me so they are not frustrated by how long I take. Most of the time, the customers behind me are very nice and are impressed by how much money I saved.This is kind of sneaky, but my experience has been, as has also been indicated on many blogs that I have read, that if when you check out you go to a teenage (preferably male) checker, they are not as likely to question you about your coupons. They usually just scan them so you will hurry up and be out of their line. Also, I make an effort to go to the same checker every time I visit the store. He know that I am honest and am not trying to scam the store by using expired coupons. By making an effort to have a friendly relationship with the checkers, they are less likely to hassle you and most of the time will go the extra mile to make the coupon work if there is a problem. When you find a great deal, stock up on it! If you need to do separate transactions according to the store’s coupon policy, then do it. Take advantage of the sales. We have done this many times with our local Market Basket when they put their chicken on sale for .30/lb. or less. Brad and I will both go so that we can get double the limit.I get almost all of my meat at Kroger from the discount section and save 50%-75% routinely. I have also found good deals in the clearance bins that I have had coupons for, so I always make sure that I take all of my coupons with me to the store.. Depending on the store’s coupon policy, many times you will be able to use more than one coupon on the same item. I call this “stacking.”

Stacking at Target

If you are a fan of stacking coupons, Target is  great store to watch for deals. For example, last week, I stacked coupons when I got diapers and wipes.

Pampers Diapers (large box) $19.99
Pampers Wipes (large box) $11.99
Target coupon $5.00 off diapers and wipes
Manufacturer Coupon $3.00 off diapers
Manufacturer Coupon $1.00 off wipes

Total Paid: $22.98

If you are able to stack this with a gift card promotion, they run these all the time, then you will be able to save even more!