Dear GFC Readers… yes all of you below,

Have you heard yet? Word in the blogosphere is that GFC / Google Friend Connect is shutting down for us on WordPress come March. I gather that means, based on what I’m reading, that those of you on Blogger won’t be able to receive RSS updates from those of us on WordPress. Right? Just checking.

If so, that would mean those of you following my blog exclusively via GFC will by default not be following my blog once the shut down happens.

Could I ask you to go ahead and subscribe now… [I mean, you know, since we're talking about it and I don't want you to forget later] for my Feedburner RSS or email options. I don’t want to lose you.

I’m also on Facebook and Twitter, just in case you want to follow there too so we can chat sometime.

I hope you’ll keep following my blog.

Love,

Me

If you live in Columbus, Ohio and love the deals you find on Groupon and Living Social you should know about Jolly Savers.com.

Jolly Savers offers daily deals in Columbus.  And who doesn’t love an amazing deal, particularly in these tough economic times?

 JollySavers.com is giving one super-lucky subscriber a Kindle Fire, Value: $199! Keep reading and be sure to subscribe to win!

JollySavers.com not only offers deals at 50% or more, every purchase click gives back to the community through the charity  PARTYSHIP.  Through Partyship children who meet certain criteria receive scholarship for a “free  birthday party package complete with entertainment, food, drinks and goody bags. A Partyship is a birthday party scholarship for a deserving child between ages 3 – 12.”

So sign up now to find incredible deals at Jolly Savers.

Don’t forget the folks at Jolly Savers are giving away a Kindle Fire, so be sure to SUBSCRIBE NOW for your chance to win!

*This is a Sponsored post on behalf of JollySavers.com .

Tim Tebow is the spokesperson for Jockey and Jockey is putting $1 million on the line if Tim’s team wins the championship game February 5th, 2012. One person will win $15,000 and all the other entrants will get a $25 gift card. I’ve already entered for my chance to win. The contest has been going on since December and ends at the game or up until Tim’s team is out of the running. Something like that…you can go enter and find out all the details here at this link:  If  Tebow Wins.

Now, how about that Tim Tebow, huh?!

I’m not even a football fan and I’m excited. Shoot, we don’t even have cable tv so we aren’t watching the games and I’m excited.

In fact, I knew very little about Tim and still do, but all of this obviously supernatural behind- the- scenes support of Tim has got me interested in even blogging about the guy.

Not because of “who” Tim is…but because of Who obviously is making a statement out of him. I believe God is.

I’m not talking about some vague “higher power”- no, I’m talking about the One True God. There can only be one. And He sees Tim honor Him, and He sees the nasty treatment Tim is receiving for honoring Him. 

And I believe God’s got Tim’s back.

And there’s no better defender a person could have than God himself.

How do you explain the “316 no-coincidence” ?

(click through to blog to see video of Tim & Jockey)

*I am in the Jockey Inner Circle and that’s how I found out that Tim was their spokesperson but no one put me up to writing this post. I’ll be writing something for Jockey later. I just had to jump on the Tim Tebow band-wagon! Go Denver!

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I was surprised to see what my most viewed posts were for 2011.

I’m only going to share the top 10 posts here but I will tell you, almost all of the top 20 posts viewed on my blog had to do with my budgeting attempts, homeschooling, and organizing!

The most viewed “review post” was my Holey Donuts post and that review was done back in March 2010. These are the “better for you” kind of doughnuts which makes them that much  more awesome!

And why should the blog posts have all the fun?!

I’m also going to share my 2 most viewed Youtube videos for 2011 and special mention of some from 2010.

Top 10 posts of 2011

#1.  Paper Bag Christmas Cards

#2.  What we were eating in our $35 budget.

#3.  We bought this commercial floor stand from Border’s at their going out of business sale to use in our homeschool room.

#4.  My homeschool room organizing tip- not just for homeschooling though.

#5.  My home manager binder.

#6.  Homeschool Record Keeping

#7.  Free Printable Forms for Organization

#8.  My February Budget Update-Busted <—one of the lost posts

#9.  Our Homeschool Room (bloghop) <—- A 2010 post, before I reorganized the room.

#10. My impossible budget experiment. <—- My Jan. 1st post of 2011.

Most viewed Youtube review-videos of 2011:

Our boys dancing with the Fijits we got to review received 2620 views.

My video of our Castaway Bay trip received 952 views.

And special mention from 2010:

My Geauga Lake Wild Water Kingdom video review has 2591 views currently.

My 4 videos for Crayola Color Wonders received a combined  3632 views.

AND- I learned the importance of backing up my blog – the hard and painful way when my host had a major set back and I lost about 5 weeks of posts! Ouch. Thats why I’m missing a link for one of my top 10 viewed posts and I lost most if not all of my Castaway Bay series. Although I did a post re-cap later.

Well, 2011 was the year of travel-review opportunities and brand ambassadorships for me. It was a full year and by full I mean “full for me” which may not be “full for you” if you are a blogger doing the same thing. I see some bloggers doing what seems to be an amazing amount of work related to their blogs. There’s more I want to do with mine including being able to give something more to you, but I am only one person with limited time and energy.

Nevertheless I’m looking forward to a New Year with new opportunities and new growth in more than one area of my life.

How about you?

*Linking up at SusieQTpies.

Creation Museum:

(Petersburg, KY/ near Cincinnati, OH) There’s still time to visit the LIVE Nativity Christmas Town December 26, 27, 30, or 31st.This is a FREE event and on these specific nights you can get $5 admission into the Creation Museum. Read all the details at the Creation Museum’s website here.  Their Noah’s Cafe will also be offering Turkey Lunches/Dinners with beverage for $6.49.

Here’s a video about this event below:

Do you homeschool?  They also will  be having special “Homeschooler” days offering discounted admission. Contact the Creation Museum about this. You may need a special form sent by Google Docs to fill out.

Cleveland Museum of Natural History:

Families get FREE admission between 1-5pm on the following Thursdays: January 5, February 2, and March 1, 2012. Click here for details, special programs and planetarium are not included in the free admission. Our family has been to this museum and I’ve shared a review here  of our trip.

*Thanks to Coupon Allies for sharing this information.

Do you know of any other museums in Ohio offering FREE or discounted admission?

I haven’t come across any others so please leave a comment here if you have that information. Thanks!

“And the Word was made flesh,

and dwelt among us,

(and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. …

For the law was given by Moses,

but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.“  John 1:14, 17

“And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS:

for he shall save his people from their sins.

Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, BEHOLD, A VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD, AND SHALL BRING FORTH A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME EMMANUEL, which being interpreted is,”…

“God with us.”

Matthew 1:21-23

*KJV; Emphasis, mine.

Partylite. I do believe it was a  PartyLite party I attended many years ago. I don’t hear too much about Partylite around here like I do other direct sales programs that sell food and kitchen stuff. Maybe that means our area has room for more consultants? 

My candle from that party was probably the longest lasting candle I’d ever owned.

Anyways, Partylite candles are sold in “at home” parties and online in every state in the U.S. and in 17 other countries, I am told. I’m also told there is a Partylite show happening every 18 seconds! Thats pretty incredible.

Isn’t this stand up “lamp” beautiful? Its from the Enchanted Collection. I also saw a lit up village scene from the same collection on their PartyLite Facebook page. You can follow them on Facebook at that link I just provided to stay up to date about special monthly offers for party hosts and guests.

And you’re just in time to check out their new Winter/Spring Catalog for 2012  which came out last week!  Unfortunately, you’re not on time to enter the PartyLite Simple Pleasures Holiday Sweepstakes which ended last week too. However, if you go through that link you can enter the Partylite website and find a hostess near you and check out how much you could earn for free by hosting a Partylite party with friends and family.

Being the frugal gal I am, I would most likely host a party to earn as much FREE scented candles or home decor as I could. I suppose if you have lots of friends and family who love Partylite you could end up hosting a few parties a year to earn free home decor to freshen up your home for each season.

Okay, I don’t have that many friends, but you might!

Just last year I remember specifically how December 2010 was – SNOW, at least on the ground nearly every. single. day. For real! It was a wonderful wonderland of snow. It was melting off the ground around the very last day or two of that month. And then things got really cold around January/February.

Now, one year later, we’ve had a very different December. Rain. Very little snow. And its almost Christmas.

I’m not complaining, I like not worrying about slick roads and freezing temps- but I am a bit old-fashioned. Its not really very “Christmas-sy” in NE Ohio without that white cold stuff on the ground.

But come January, February, March 2012 I’m afraid we’ll get a good dumping of that white fluffy stuff with the works: slick roads, closed roads (too much snow), freezing temps and the need for digging out.

Kind of ironic I guess. I don’t have any snow to worry about and that alone can cause me worry ’cause I expect the longer it doesn’t show up, the worse its likely to be when it does.

Aw, but I’m not worrying. I hope you’re not either

I went back to December 2010 to see what I was writing about.  Among the many posts… It was that month that we cut our cable tv, I wrote about Who Jesus Christ is and Why He came, Brandi told us about Stark County winter bird activities, and I was excited about one of my posts being featured on The Frugal Girls website- it was this craft post. That feature brought me a lot of  visitors for which I am thankful for.

A personal note from me…

Thank you so much everyone for staying on as a reader. I know I post a lot of reviews and topical/advertising-type posts I’m paid to write about (requiring me to research and compose in my own words) and they aren’t necessarily all that interesting to you I assume. But I began blogging so I could earn an income from home that would allow me to stay home and raise my kids and put my family first. If I don’t work from home, I may have to leave home to work and I don’t want that.

I am thankful for everyone of YOU who read my blog regularly, visit occasionally, get my email/RSS subscription, and  follow me on Facebook and Twitter. At my blog I hope you find encouragement, helpful tips, and discover a new product or two you’re glad you found here.

I hope you WIN in one of my giveaways. If you advertise with me- I hope you get a lot of new visits and sales, and if you’ve never heard the truth about how a relationship with Jesus Christ will change your life and eternity forever…I hope you’ll read one or more of  my posts about it  here at the blog!  {Some of my dearest friends and  acquaintances are not believers in Christ and I am praying for you because you’re missing out on the best thing that could ever happen to you in your life that only gets better in eternity!}

And if for some reason I don’t get a “Merry Christmas” post up before Sunday-  Merry Christmas from me!  But I think I’ll get another post up about that before then!

*That’s our cat, Spanky- lounging on the couch under the stockings. Doesn’t he look cozy?

Ignorance will not be bliss when you find yourself in the shoes of one of “these” parents.

Please watch this, pass it on to a friend, and then DO something about it. We all need to be doing something.

You’ll have to click through to the blog to view it. If video doesn’t come up on my blog, try here.

“The U.S. Supremacy Clause allows foreign treaties to override state laws and constitutions.”

The USA is very close to handing over  our Parental Rights to the United Nations. Its no joke and one or more previous presidents have been paving the way to this end.

Watch the video and be informed before the day comes when we as parents have no legal rights over our children!

I will probably be talking about this more over the upcoming weeks. Subscribe here if you want to keep up.

*Linking to Raising Homemakers and Women Living Well.

There’s only like 35 days left till Christmas!

*Affiliate links included here. Simply means I make a little commission when products are bought through my links.