Making the Most of Your Shopping Trip

This week’s Works For Me Wednesday is all about shopping! Last week’s Fashion Fiesta got me in the shopping mood, so I decided to continue with fashion here. I hope to make the bulk of this post about finding fashions that work for you and how to get the most out of your money, and that each and every one of you can find a tip that will work for you!

One.) My number one, most important tip for shopping is to try lots of things on. You will never find what works best for you unless you try, try, try, and try some more. When I shop, I grab anything that looks like it might work on me, anything in a color I like, really anything that catches my eye. I also try to pull a few things in styles or colors I wouldn’t normally wear, just to see if they might look better on me than I originally thought.

Two.) Bring a friend. Preferably, this friend should be knowledgeable about clothing and fit, but you can’t go wrong if you bring a friend whose style you admire. Chances are, if you love the way your friend looks, you’ll end up loving the way YOU look. A friend with a great sense of humor is a plus; they’ll help lighten the mood if things start to get a wee bit stressful.

Three.) Enlist the help of a sales associate. They’ve seen a lot of clothes on a lot of different body shapes, so they might have some recommendations for you. They’ll also give you their honest opinion on fits and can assist you in finding coordinating pieces for that skirt you just HAVE to have but can’t find anything to wear with. But, the single most helpful thing an associate can do for you is help you with the fit of pants. Just about every store has several different cuts of pants, and many times, the same pair of pants will be available in several different cuts. If you don’t like the way a pair of pants fits, find an associate, tell them what you don’t like about them, and see if she can help you find something you’ll LOVE.

Four.) Invest a little more in the basics. Looking for a great pair of black pants? Suit? Trench coat? Spend a little more money on these pieces, since they’ll be in style longer and you’ll get a lot of wear out of them. In the long run, spending a bit more money on pieces you can wear for 7+ years will save you money since you won’t be replacing these items every two years.

Five.) Conversely, look in stores like Target, Khols, and TJ Maxx for seasonal “trendy” items. You’ll spend less on items you’ll likely only wear for a year, and you’ll spend less, which is always great! Also, look at consignment store like Plato’s Closet that sell “trendy” items that are roughly a year old. This is also a great place to get a little bit of money out of clothes that no longer fit, or whose style you’ll simply not all that into anymore.

Six.) Shop store’s sales sections very, very carefully. Look for items you can still wear in the current season, or items that are basics you could easily wear year-round for many years to come. Avoid buying things like sweaters in the summer, unless they are basics (such as cable knits) that will be in style for years to come. Be sure you hold sale items to the same standards you would hold more expensive ones. Just because the price seems too good to pass up, say goodbye if it doesn’t fit you properly!

Seven.) Look for special in-store sales or promotional pricings and bring your coupons! If you happen to have two coupons, most stores won’t let you use both on the same transaction, but if ask nicely, they will probably let you use both if you use two separate transactions. And even if you can’t use two coupons, you can usually use a coupon with in-store promotions. For example, if pants are $10 off, you can get $10 PLUS 20% off if you have a coupon. If a store has a client list, be sure to get your name on that sucker! The store will call you to let you know if they are having special promotional pricings, and those are usually the best times to do a wardrobe overhaul.

I hope some of these tips helped you! Be sure to hope back over to Rocks in my Dryer for more great tips. Happy shopping!!

Deeanne Gist — Book Review

The book reviews are back! I’ve read several great books lately, so look for more book reviews in the future, but today I’ll be reviewing the author Deeanne Gist, and her three books: A Bride Most Begrudging, Measure of a Lady, and Courting Trouble. All three books are published by Bethany Publishing, and Gist currently has a new book, the sequel to Courting Trouble, in the works. All of Gist’s novels are romances, and all are “historical,” though she admittedly takes liberties with settings, customs, language, and social conventions.

I was introduced to Gist’s work several months ago, when my church’s book club read A Bride Most Begrudging. This novel is set in Colonial America, and our heroine has accidentally found herself traveling from her position of power in Britain to be forced into marriage with an American farmer. While I enjoyed the strong female protagonist, I wasn’t impressed with the character development – most characters seemed one-sided, and their relationships didn’t seem to have much depth. There were also a few graphic sexual moments I thought were a bit inappropriate for a Christian novel. Likewise, the heroine’s “strong faith” was referred to many times, yet we never really saw her engaging in quite times, reading the Bible, or discussing her faith. In fact, when she finally makes the journey to church, much more time is spent discussing her social f’aux-pas than spirituality.

Despite my less than positive thoughts about A Bride Most Begrudging, I decided to read Measure of a Lady when I saw it in the library. Hey, A Bride Most Begrudging was Gist’s first novel and she can only get better, I thought. And she did! I LOVED Measure of a Lady, set during the early gold-mining years of San Fransisco. The characters here have more depth, and all have more personality than her previous novel. This also appears to have been her most well-researched novel, and its richness is enhanced by the inclusion of several real happenings in the city’s early years. What really works in this novel is the heroine’s inner struggle. Not only does she strive to meet the physical needs of her younger sister and brother in a new town, but she also strives to teach them moral and Godliness. Yet, both siblings fall into practices and professions that are less than reputable. She truly struggles to learn how to show she loves them, but still show she doesn’t approve of her actions. She and her love interest have similar struggles, and both most undergo self-examination and compromise in order to make their relationship work. Of the three of Gist’s current novels, this is the one that shows the heroine turning to God and looking for His guidance. This is a great book for all women to read, as it is one that everyone can relate to. How can we learn to “hate the sin and love the sinner,” is the question this book deals with wonderfully.

Courting Trouble is a book I have great concerns with. It started with great promise — a strong, quirky protagonist making a list of potential husbands has great potential! We see her, and her family, going against social conventions, and we see her struggle with sexual purity. I thought this had real potential to be even better than Measure of a Lady, *if* it had been dealt with in an appropriate manner. Half-way through the novel, we see the heroine canoodling, kissing, and fondling with her love interest in the balcony of a theater during a racy show. When the she heads out to a secret midnight rendezvous with him she wears her oldest, rattiest pair of undergarments to “help keep her chaste” and I thought, “yeah, maybe this can work out.” Let me tell ya’ll — IT DIDN’T, and the “big event” was described a little more graphically than I would have liked for a Christian book. Now don’t get me wrong, the act itself is not what makes me have “issues” with this book, but it is the fact that our heroine has no real repentance for her sin. Sure, she decides to throw away all her beloved hats, but her parents convince her otherwise. She tells her father not to set her up on dates, but she ends up being courted anyway. Later, after being proposed to, we see her in prayer about whether or not she should marry this man, but she ends up deciding that God doesn’t want her to marry anyway. So, she does something that should socially keep her from her dream of marriage, but its no big deal because it turns out God doesn’t want that for her anyway. Sin has consequence, and there doesn’t seem to be any for our heroine. Everyone in the town still accepts her, no one looks down on her, and she has a more fulfilled life than she ever did. I’m not saying God can’t turn our sins into victories, but we must first repent, and there will always be missed blessings as a result of our sin. I would have loved to see some real repentance, some thoughts of blessings she may have missed out on. The book does have a lovely moment when the pastor-to-be courting our heroine finds out she is no longer a virgin. Yet, decides to continue courting her, and even proposed to her because if God forgives sinners, he ought to as well. That is a great message indeed, but I hate the idea of putting a message out that when we make mistakes, everything turns out fine. Yes, God forgives us, but moving on from our sin rarely as easy as Courting Trouble portrays it to be. There are consequences to our actions, and we know Biblically that he does not hesitate to allow those to happen. While this book is a good read, I would not recommend it to young girls or immature teens. I plan to read the sequel, and hope that it shows the heroine in some real moments of reflection, remorse, and repentance for her actions.

I love the angle Gist comes at with Christian fiction — the romance aspect, which can really reach many women, but I would like to see her future novel have a stronger Christian message.

Forgivness

“No one deserves forgiveness. Forgiveness is granted by God as an act of mercy and grace. Therefore, Christians must decide to forgive all people, whether or not they deserve forgiveness.”

— From Raising Moms by Rhonda H. Kelley

I have always loved the story of Corrie Ten Boom. What touched me the most about her story was that she was able to look one of her former guards in the eye and tell him she forgave him. I found the film Forgiving Dr. Mengele and equally powerful story of forgiveness. Eva Kor’s story is truly horrible, and yet the fact that she is able to say she forgives those who persecuted her, who experimented on her and her twin sister, amazes me. I was surprised, however, to find that many survivors of the Holocaust were outraged that she would forgive Nazis. Kor doesn’t look at forgiveness in the Christian perspective, as something we show to other’s because of Christ’s love, but sees it instead as a way to heal. Still, her story is a powerful and poignant one, and a wonderful documentary.

Choping an Onion to Make Martha Stewart Proud

It’s Work’s For Me Wednesday!

One morning, as I was getting ready to go to work, I saw Martha Stewart on the Today Show teaching the cast how to cook some scrumptious dish. She asked Ann to cut an onion, and was immediately APPALLED and Ann’s onion cutting skills. She gave her a brief description of the “proper” way to cut an onion, and promised to send over a book on knife skills. I decided to try Martha’s way of onion dicing, and found I liked it more than traditional dicing, which always seemed to take forever. Martha’s way really works for me, but alas, her website doesn’t have directions with pictures, which I think is really helpful, so here’s my version of Martha’s onion dicing.

Start with a nice, big onion.

Peel it anyway you’d like. I like to cut mine in half (the next step) before peeling it, but you can do this however you’d like.

Here’s what they look like peeled and halved! I did make make one half a little bigger than I wanted, so I just halved it again, which worked fine, but try to get them even, it makes the process easier and faster.

Next, start making cuts along the onion. Start on one side, making them angled, and work your way around. The middle cut should be straight up and down. Make sure you cut all way the through the onion on these slits — the knife should hit the cutting board. Once you’re made all your cuts, the onion half should look a little something like this:

Now, Martha says its best to use your knuckles to hold the onion in place while you cut. I usually use my fingers, but here I am using my knuckles in the photo so I can make Martha proud.

Now, make cuts across the onion in the opposite direction of the first cuts. I love cutting an onion this way, because, as you can see, you get a relatively uniform size, and once you get the hang of the first cuts, it’s a lot faster than dicing the “original” way.

You will, however, have a nice little end piece left to dice “traditionally.” No big deal, the hard work has already been done!

I cut one onion, in three halves (because, apparently, I am not goo at cutting things in half), in about 15 minutes, including photo-documenting every step. And let me say, it is very difficult to take photos of yourself cutting something.

Cutting an onion this way works for me, and for Martha. Find out what works for others here!

Welcome to the Family!

Today’s Tuesday post is later than normal, because I was waiting to officially have this one home:

Meet Glacier! Isn’t she sweet? Hubby and I adopted her from the SPCA, where she had been for about three months. She’s three years old, and is smart and sweet. We love her already!

Very into playing with her new rope.

She was happily chomping on some ice until I decided to post these. Since, she’s left some nice, wet, kisses on my keyboard and screen. Ah, the joys of puppy parenthood!