Beyond Blue Giveaway (ends 1/22)

Publisher's Summary. Therese Borchard may be one of the frankest, funniest people on the planet. That, combined with her keen writing abilities has made her Beliefnet blog, Beyond Blue, one of the most trafficked blogs on the site.

BEYOND BLUE, the book, is part memoir/part self-help. It describes Borchard's experience of living with manic depression as well as providing cutting-edge research and information on dealing with mood disorders. By exposing her vulnerability, she endears herself immediately to the reader and then reduces even the most depressed to laughter as she provides a companion on the journey to recovery and the knowledge that the reader is not alone.

Comprised of four sections and twenty-one chapters, BEYOND BLUE covers a wide range of topics from codependency to addiction, poor body image to postpartum depression, from alternative medicine to psychopharmacology, managing anxiety to applying lessons from therapy. Because of her laser wit and Erma Bombeck sense of humor, every chapter is entertaining as well as serious.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fabulous book.

First Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entry: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower). NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends January 22nd! Good Luck!

Make It Fast, Cook It Slow

Publisher's Summary. Make It Fast, Cook It Slow is the first cookbook from Stephanie O’Dea, the extremely popular slow cooking blogger: affordable, delicious, nutritious, and gluten-free recipes to delight the entire family.

In December 2007, Stephanie O’Dea made a New Year’s resolution: she’d use her slow cooker every single day for an entire year, and write about it on her very popular blog. The result: more than three million visitors, and more than 300 fabulous, easy-to-make, family-pleasing recipes, including:

* Breakfast Risotto
* Vietnamese Roast Chicken
* Tomatoes and Goat Cheese with Balsamic Cranberry Syrup
* Falafel
* Philly Cheesesteaks
* Crème Brulee

--and much more. Make It Fast, Cook It Slow is the perfect cookbook for easy, quick prep, inexpensive ingredients, and meals that taste like you spent hours at the stove.

Review. Today's review fits into my January theme of cooking at home to save money. When blogger-author Stephanie O’Dea made a resolution to use her crock pot everyday in 2008, readers everywhere shared in her tasty journey. Now O’Dea’s fabulous recipes are available in this affordable paperback edition.

Make It Fast Cook It Slow is not your mother’s cookbook. That is, the recipes are much more than the usual pot roast, stew, and soup options. The Table of Contents reveals the bevy of slow cooker options: Beverages, Appetizers, Breakfast, Baking, Side Dishes, Beans, Pasta & Casseroles, Soups & Stews, Seafood, Poultry, Meatless Mains, Meat, Takeout Fake-Out, Snacks & Fondue, Desserts, and Fun Stuff (including crayons and play dough!). I can personally vouch for the Wassail, Crab Dip, and Bacon and Cheese Chicken!

Nearly every page of Make It Fast Cook It Slow contains a different tantalizing recipe. The gluten- free recipes are easy to prepare, use readily available ingredients, and most conclude with O’Dea’s “verdict” (parting thoughts on the results). The only minor detractions from the book are the absence of pictures and nutritional information.

Make It Fast Cook It Slow is a must have resource for families!

Denise's Daily Dozen Giveaway (ends 1/22)

Publisher's Summary. From Denise Austin comes the perfect health book for anyone who wants to live better but just can't seem to find the time. Much more than just another excercise book, Denise's Daily Dozen covers a whole range of health and diet related concepts yet manages it all in a no-stress, time-conscious program of 12's. At it's core, this book contains the minimum daily requirements to keep the reader flexible, strong and trim. Organized simply into seven chapters, which equal the seven days of the week, it covers a full week in daily allotments. Each day will have it's own focus from Monday being "fat burning day" to Sunday's "recharge and rejuvenate."

Denise has created a total body program, including a 7-day balanced meal plan that includes healthy recipes, and a workout that encompasses 12 exercises done in 12 minutes each day. Everyone can take just 12 minutes, at whatever time of the day works for them, and turn it over to these simple and fun exercises. Cardio, toning, yoga and breathing exercises...they're all here but in a way the maximizes effect while minimizing time.

Beyond a dozen exercises for each day of the week this book will include many other of Denises dozens for each day.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fabulous book.

First Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entry: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower). NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends January 22nd Good Luck!

Mailbox Monday - January 4th

Thanks to host Marcia at The Printed Page I'm participating in the Mailbox Monday round up. This week I received the following advance review copies:

1) One Amazing Thing by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni. Amazon Product Description. Late afternoon sun sneaks through the windows of a passport and visa office in an unnamed American city. Most customers and even most office workers have come and gone, but nine people remain. A punky teenager with an unexpected gift. An upper-class Caucasian couple whose relationship is disintegrating. A young Muslim-American man struggling with the fallout of 9/11. A graduate student haunted by a question about love. An African-American ex-soldier searching for redemption. A Chinese grandmother with a secret past. And two visa office workers on the verge of an adulterous affair.

When an earthquake rips through the afternoon lull, trapping these nine characters together, their focus first jolts to their collective struggle to survive. There's little food. The office begins to flood. Then, at a moment when the psychological and emotional stress seems nearly too much for them to bear, the young graduate student suggests that each tell a personal tale, "one amazing thing" from their lives, which they have never told anyone before. And as their surprising stories of romance, marriage, family, political upheaval, and self-discovery unfold against the urgency of their life-or-death circumstances, the novel proves the transcendent power of stories and the meaningfulness of human expression itself. From Chitra Divakaruni, author of such finely wrought, bestselling novels as Sister of My Heart, The Palace of Illusions, and The Mistress of Spices, comes her most compelling and transporting story to date. One Amazing Thing is a passionate creation about survival--and about the reasons to survive.

Thanks to Hyperion via Shelf Awareness.

2) Beyond Blue by Therese J. Borchard. Amazon Product Description. Therese Borchard may be one of the frankest, funniest people on the planet. That, combined with her keen writing abilities has made her Beliefnet blog, Beyond Blue, one of the most trafficked blogs on the site.

BEYOND BLUE, the book, is part memoir/part self-help. It describes Borchard's experience of living with manic depression as well as providing cutting-edge research and information on dealing with mood disorders. By exposing her vulnerability, she endears herself immediately to the reader and then reduces even the most depressed to laughter as she provides a companion on the journey to recovery and the knowledge that the reader is not alone.

Comprised of four sections and twenty-one chapters, BEYOND BLUE covers a wide range of topics from codependency to addiction, poor body image to postpartum depression, from alternative medicine to psychopharmacology, managing anxiety to applying lessons from therapy. Because of her laser wit and Erma Bombeck sense of humor, every chapter is entertaining as well as serious.

3) Prime-Time Health by William Sears, MD. Amazon Product Description. Twelve years ago, renowned physician and author Dr. William Sears was diagnosed with cancer. He, like so many people, wanted-and needed-to take control of his health. Dr. Sears created a comprehensive, science based, head-to-toe program for living a long, fit life-and it worked. Now at the peak of health, Dr. Sears shares his program in PRIME-TIME HEALTH. This engaging and deeply informative book will motivate readers to make crucial behavior and lifestyle changes. Dr. Sears explores how to keep each body system healthy and delay those usual age-related changes. Written in Dr. Sears's wise, accessible, and entertaining voice, PRIME-TIME HEALTH is a practical program to help you live your best life possible-pain-free, disease-free, stress-free, and medication-free.

Thanks to Hachette Book Group.

Prime-Time Health Giveaway (ends 1/22)

Publisher's Summary. Twelve years ago, renowned physician and author Dr. William Sears was diagnosed with cancer. He, like so many people, wanted-and needed-to take control of his health. Dr. Sears created a comprehensive, science based, head-to-toe program for living a long, fit life-and it worked. Now at the peak of health, Dr. Sears shares his program in PRIME-TIME HEALTH. This engaging and deeply informative book will motivate readers to make crucial behavior and lifestyle changes. Dr. Sears explores how to keep each body system healthy and delay those usual age-related changes.

Giveaway Rules: Today I am giving away FIVE copies of this fabulous book.

First Entry: Comment with your email address in the body of the comment (you can list it as mary123 (at) yahoo(dot)com). If you do not list your email address your entry will not count.

Extra Entry: Sign up to follow my blog (or let me know that you are a current follower). NOTE: This extra entry MUST be left in a separate comment or it will not count.

The giveaway is open to Canadian and US residents only.
You must be 18 years of age or older.
NO P.O. Boxes for the winner’s mailing address.

Giveaway ends January 22nd. Good Luck!

It's All Too Much

Publisher's Summary. When Peter Walsh, organizational guru of TLC's hit show Clean Sweep and a regular contributor to The Oprah Winfrey Show, appeared on national television shows and told people how they could reclaim their lives from the suffocating burden of their clutter, the response was overwhelming. People flooded Peter's website (www.peterwalshdesign.com) with success stories about how his book had changed their lives.

Peter's unique approach helped people everywhere learn to let go of the emotional and psychological clutter that was literally and figuratively choking the life out of their homes.

With his good humor and reassuring advice, Peter shows you how to face the really big question: What is the vision for the life you want to live? He then offers simple techniques and a step-by-step plan to assess the state of your home, prioritize your possessions, and let go of the clutter you have been holding on to that has kept you from living the life you imagine. The result is freed-up space, less stress, and more energy for living a happier, richer life every day.

Review. It’s All Too Much by Peter Walsh is not the typical how-to-organize your clutter book (e.g. the ones that send you scurrying to Wal-Mart to stock up on plastic storage boxes). Rather it is a call to purge the clutter. Walsh’s philosophy is to focus on “the costs of clutter.” These costs include the emotional (clutter causes a stressful environment and discontent in relationships) and the financial (wasteful spending on “stuff” rather than meaningful experiences or purchases).

One by one Walsh debunks the top excuses for keeping clutter:
• I Might Need It One Day:
Answer: Clutter keeps us from living in the present.
• It’s Too Important To Let Go:
Answer: Clutter makes us forget what’s really important – families, friends,
relationships – NOT things.
• I Can’t Get Rid Of It – It’s Worth A Lot Of Money:
Answer: Clutter robs us of real value.
• My House Is Too Small:
Answer: Clutter steals our space.
• I Don’t Have The Time:
Answer: Clutter monopolizes our time.
• I Don’t Know How It Got Like This:
Answer: Clutter takes over.
• It’s Not a Problem – Someone Else Just Thinks It Is
Answer: Clutter jeopardizes our relationships.
• It Isn’t Mine
Answer: Other people’s clutter robs us of opportunities that should be ours.
• It’s Too Overwhelming:
Answer: Clutter erodes our spiritual selves.

Who knew that clutter caused all of these issues?

After reading the excuse-busters I was convinced, but where and how to start? This is where the nitty-gritty work begins. First, Walsh advocates a Kick Start day which basically encompasses a massive surface purge and a lot of trash bags. While this might make for good TV in real life I prefer to go a bit slower. And Walsh does concede that you can accomplish the same purging in smaller increments with “a little bit everyday.”

Once you have surface purged either via the Kick Start or little by little, Walsh then tackles decluttering the average house room-by-room. Every chapter starts with an admonishment to set up a “Room Function Chart” as a floor plan to reconstructing the room. While it is helpful to consider each room’s purpose, the formality of making a chart that all household members sign off on is for most people an unnecessary extra step. In the room specific chapters I most enjoyed the practical tips, such as, hanging all clothing in one direction, but in another after wearing (to determine what clothes you actually wear).

As a booklover I also appreciated Walsh’s discourse on book ownership. Specifically, Walsh asks: “What was it that you were purchasing when you bought this reading material?” According to Walsh, some people purchase books simply to read. These people can usually part with a book after they have digested it. Others, however, buy books “to acquire the knowledge contained in the book.” To these people parting with the book is tantamount to surrendering this knowledge. However, as Walsh aptly notes “when you buy a book you do not suddenly own the wisdom it contains – all you have bought is words on paper.” I’m going to keep Walsh’s wisdom in mind when I prune my book collection.

In short, It’s All Too Much is perfectly divided between the emotional reckoning with the costs of clutter followed by the practical-step-by-step advice. For these reasons, I highly recommend It’s All Too Much!

Welcome 2010!

Hope you celebrated appropriately last night and are ready for a new decade! Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? If so, please feel free to share them in the comments field. While I no longer make resolutions, as I tend to have failed miserably at them by the time Valentine’s Day rolls around, I do love to hear the resolutions of others.

Although I do not make resolutions, I do like to make lists of areas/goals that I could improve on. Generally speaking, these areas concern one of three topics: money, weight, and organization. I’ll bet you share at least one of these concerns.

In an effort to inspire and motivate you (and me) to save money, lose weight, and banish the clutter, throughout the month of January I will be periodically spotlighting books on one of these topics. So please join me in the “Money, Weight, and Trash” theme month.