Kelly's Thrifty Tips

Thanksgiving is right around the corner! And I thought it would be a good idea to go over some nice Thanksgiving tips. First of all, no matter how you slice it and how many people are over for Thanksgiving, there are always leftovers sooooo I thought it might be a good idea to give some ideas on what to do with those leftovers so nothing gets wasted. In fact, even if you are going to someone else's home for Thanksgiving, you should take advantage of the awesome prices for turkey right now and make one of your own at a later date.

After the meal is through get all the meat off of that turkey carcass. You can easily freeze left over turkey by separating it into cup sizes, wrapping it up in foil and then putting it in a freezer bag. You can put the carcass in the freezer to and work on making a turkey stock the next day.

I have come to completely rely on the stock I have made rather than buying soup broths or stocks. It is really easy to do. If you have a crock pot, I highly recommend using it, because it couldn't be any simpler. Just put the carcass and some veggies in the crock pot and cover it with water. Cook it on low all day. A crock pot will use less energy than putting it on the stove, and you don't have to watch it at all. After 8 or more hours, strain the fluid out and put in containers to freeze. You can use this stock later as a base for soups, gravy, or for your liquid when doing other crock pot cooking. Seriously since I started doing this, I never buy canned broth any more.

Now when it comes to the left over turkey there are many recipes you can try. My family loves to make turkey sandwiches, but even that can get old. For me a turkey sandwich tastes best the first day. Here are some recipe links you might like to try.


Turkey and Mashed Potato Croquettes (here is a great way to use some leftover turkey and left over mashed potatoes). This recipe came from About.com from Diana Rattray

Stuffing Frittata (another great recipe which will give you a way to get some use out of that tasty leftover stuffing). I found this recipe at My Last Bite.

After Thanksgiving Turkey Salad recipe. Why not enjoy something with a little nut and crunch? This recipe really looks tasty, and I picked it up at CDKitchen.

Turkey Tetrazzini II Kind of self explanatory here. Just another way to use up that yummy turkey. This came from All Recipes which has loads of amazing recipes you will want to check out.

Now for those people who may not have someone to share Thanksgiving with or who may not be able to afford the celebration, there are several communities offering a free Thanksgiving meal for their community. Here are some details:

Word of Life Assembly 8th Annual Free Thanksgiving Dinner

Word of Life Assembly of Chino Valley, welcomes the tri-city community to Thanksgiving Dinner on Tuesday, November 23rd from 4-7:30pm. Enjoy smoked rotisserie turkey and ham, garlic mashed potatoes, green beans, yams, dressing and dessert. We are honored to bless those in our community who can not provide for themselves. We also will deliver meals in chino Valley and Paulden to the homebound. Come join us for a wonderful time of food,fellowship and fun. Jump castles for the kids! 590 W Road 1 North, Chino Valley, AZ For more information 928-636-4224

Fourth Annual Community Thanksgiving Dinner - Mayer, Cordes Lakes and Spring Valley

Tuesday, November 23rd will be our fourth annual Community Thanksgiving dinner for Mayer, Cordes Lakes, and Spring Valley. Don't miss out on a hot meal for the holidays. Because of the generous donations from many, we have been able to feed 100s of people who might not have a hot meal for the holidays. Begins at 5:00 pm at Mayer High School. Call for more information: 928-533-4451

Church on the Street annual Thanksgiving Feed (November 26)

All are welcome! Come join us in fellowship, food and the love of Christ as we feed Thanksgiving dinner to the public the day after Thanksgiving day (Friday 26th) at 11:00 am at Joe's Place 105 West Carleton St, Prescott.

Those who would like to volunteer please call pastor Wes at 928-771-8428.


FREEBIES


Burt's Bees is giving a free sample of their lotion. Follow the facebook link, take the quiz, and get hooked up with some fabulous Burt's Bees moisturizer.

LINK: Burt's Bees Moisturizer

Sign up with Beyond Bodi Heat for a free Bodi Heat patch. One per household.

LINK: Beyond Bodi Heat

While supplies last, Sam's club member can get a free sample of Dove hair care.

LINK: Dove Sample from Sam's

If you are still on the look out for a calendar, you can get the 2011 Unity Calendar: The Year of Abundant Living.

LINK: The Year of Abundant Living Calendar

Want a little help with your Thanksgiving cooking? Follow the link below for a free Martha Stewart e-cookbook.

LINK: Martha Stewart Cookbook

Get Sara Groves O Holy Night Tour - The Prison Show album for free straight from her website. Follow the link below.

LINK: Sara Groves CD O Holy Night

The free download of the week from FreeCCM is Skillet's "Best Kept Secret."

LINK: FreeCCM

Amazon has a free album download of Veggie Tales "The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree."

LINK: The Incredible Singing Christmas Tree

Here is another free way to help those who are less fortunate. Image links to Marine's Toy's For Tot's site

Okay you facebook people! Here is a great opportunity to do some good without spending a dime. Pier One Imports is the official drop off for Toys For Tots, and they are also doing something special. For each new fan they get on facebook, they will donate a $1 to Toys for Tots up to $100,000! I don't know where they stared in the fan zone so even if they are past 100,000 fans, please like them because this is for every NEW fan. This is going on from November 1 to December 1.


And please do not forget to search through Goodsearch.com. This is another painless way to give that I cannot suggest enough. Simply put Radio Shine in the charity sight, click verify, and every search will give a penny to Radio Shine. Those pennies add up, and especially so when you also shop through Goodshop.com. Again, put Radio Shine in the charity box, click verify, and Radio Shine will receive a percentage of that sale at no additional cost to you. It is a completely painless way to bless. Also when you shop through Goodshop.com you also will have a chance to receive special discounts. I do hope you check it out. Follow the link below. Check this out, if just 100 of Radio Shine's listeners did two searches a day through Goodsearch (again putting Radio Shine as the charity), Radio Shine could earn $730! With shopping, it goes up from there!

LINK: Goodsearch

BLACK FRIDAY

The day after Thanksgiving is swiftly approaching. Get some Black Friday sneak peeks by following the links below.

GottaDeal
Bargain Finders
BlackFridayAds
TheBlackFriday
BlackFriday2010 (has a contest too!)

What Produces A Thankful Heart?

What Makes a Thankful Heart?

Loads of images come flooding in when you hear the word Thanksgiving. What does the word trigger in your mind? Turkey. Back-to-back football games on TV. A break from school, Pumpkin pie, Shopping, Family squabbles, Fun and games. Oddly enough, sometimes the whole 'giving thanks' part of the day can get lost in all the flurry and fuss. Unless we're careful, Thanksgiving can easily miss the original intent of the holiday - to gather with others and give thanks to God!

What makes for a thankful heart? Does it overflow from having an abundance of the coolest technology, clothes, or car? Does it come from having a warm house to live in? From being popular? From having a positive cash flow? Or a boyfriend or girlfriend to make you feel special and loved?

Frequently, our minds go down those roads when we collect our thoughts to focus on what we're thankful to God for. But as followers of Jesus, we should look to him as our model for thankfulness. And Jesus didn't have an abundance of 'stuff' in his life, or a nice house, a steady income, or a girlfriend. Yet he lived a life of gratitude and thankfulness. Check out these examples from the Bible:

Faith, faith the size of a mustard seed you can move mountains!

What would happen if you had no doubt? How would your life transform if you consistently looked for the gift beyond challenges? What if you consistently approached life with an open heart, sincere appreciation and more certainty and confidence in Christ than ever before?

Even researchers are discovering that two specific states can make all the difference in living a powerful and purposeful life: Faith & Gratitude.

FAITH is a belief and feeling of absolute certainty that what God says is true and that it is true for our lives. It is an inner knowing. Faith dispels doubt, disintegrates fear and offers peace. It is a state of total confidence and contentment.

GRATITUDE is the state of sincere appreciation and thanksgiving. Expressing gratitude expands your ability to give and receive abundance. When you are grateful you experience the abundance of life that Jesus talks about in

Faith & Gratitude offers practical teachings that you can use everyday to condition your brain and body to live in harmony with your Spirit. It is the highest states of excellence and joy. It gives you real resources, mindsets, tools, and exercises to support you.

John 10:10 The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.

The Expositor's Bible Commentary says this about John 10:10:

Jesus' main purpose was the salvation (health) of the sheep, which he defined as free access to pasture and fullness of life. Under his protection and by his gift they can experience the best life can offer. In the context of John's emphasis on eternal life, this statement takes on new significance. Jesus can give a whole new meaning to living because he provides full satisfaction and perfect guidance.

Barclay's Daily Study Bible adds,

Jesus claims that he came that men might have life and might have it more abundantly. The Greek phrase used for having it more abundantly means to have a superabundance of a thing. To be a follower of Jesus, to know who he is and what he means, is to have a superabundance of life.

A Roman soldier came to Julius Caesar with a request for permission to commit suicide. He was a wretched dispirited creature with no vitality. Caesar looked at him. "Man," he said, "were you ever really alive?" When we try to live our own lives, life is a dull, dispirited thing. When we walk with Jesus, there comes a new vitality, a superabundance of life. It is only when we live with Christ that life becomes really worth living and we begin to live in the real sense of the word.

We often hear that the key to Christian obedience is thankfulness for what God has done. But the Bible stresses faith and hope much more than gratitude. The Baptist pastor and author John Piper has written,

“Nowhere in the Bible is gratitude connected explicitly with obedience as a motivation. We do not find the phrase ‘out of gratitude’ or ‘in gratitude’ for acts toward God. Christian obedience is called the ‘work of faith,’ never of the ‘work of gratitude’ (1 Thessalonians 1:3; 2 Thessalonians 1:11). We find expressions like ‘live by faith’ (Galatians 2:20) and ‘walk by faith’ (2 Corinthians 5:7), but never any expression like ‘live by gratitude’ or ‘walk by gratitude.’

We find the expression ‘faith working through love’ (Galatians 5:6), but not ‘gratitude working through love.’ We read that ‘the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and a sincere faith’ (1 Timothy 1:5), but not ‘from sincere gratitude.’ We read that sanctification is by ‘faith in the truth’ (2 Thessalonians 2:13), not that it is ‘by gratitude for the truth.’ We read that ‘faith without works is dead’ (Jas. 2:26), but not that ‘gratitude without works is dead.’ And when Jesus deals with the disciples’ hesitancy to seek the kingdom first because they were worried about food and clothing, he did not say, ‘O men of little gratitude,’ he said, ‘O men of little faith’ (Matthew 6:30).”

Our primary motivation according to the Gospel has to be faith–confidence in what God has given to us and has promised to give us.

What this means is that we, as Christians, are never supposed to merely “gut it out.” We don’t tell ourselves that we need to simply endure because of our obligation to be grateful. No, we endure because we hope in what God promises in the Gospel.

Hebrews 11, among other passages, makes this extremely clear. It speaks of what the saints do “by faith” and makes quite clear what that means. Noah didn’t come home to his wife one day and say, “Well honey, I know life has been good. But God has told me we have to build a big boat in the middle of dry land, and become a laughingstock to everyone around us. It will take time and money and destroy my credibility but we should do it because we should be grateful to God for making us and besides, he’s God and it is always wrong to disobey God.”

Now, if anyone should have been able to simply gut it out, to simply obey because God ordered him to do so or simply out of gratitude for past blessing, it should have been Jesus Christ, the Divine Son of God.

But that’s not what the inspired word of God tells us is it! No, he did what he did because he hoped in God and new that the path God had for him to trod would leave him infinitely better off than any other course of action.

So it should be with us. Yes God had given us much, but he always promises us much more. Hope in God’s promises–saving and justifying faith–is the key to the Christian life.

Childlike Faith is the wonder and awe at what Christ did for us. It is a synergy of trust, hope, and unpretentiousness that knows the Lord loves us and will lead us. Because of our trust in the Lord, we are more able to take comfort in Him. Childlike faith sees the world as exciting and adventurous, and worth pursuing with our faith so opportunities to please God override our complacency and the attitude of “been there, done that,” even though we may have. It is a part of us that we should never lose. It enables us to maintain our humbleness and enthusiasm and not become just a subculture or routine!

Jesus sees the value of faith as paramount over anything else; faith is lifted up as the most important thing we have or do. Yet, all too often, we do not seek faith, but rather just what we can get. May be that is why we do not have a Thankful Heart?

What would it be worth to consistently experience Faith that produces Gratitude in your life now?

Faith is the foundation upon which we build our character; it supports the house where the Spirit can dwell and empower us. This is a fruit of the Spirit given to us as we grow and mature. It comes from being "conformed to the image of His Son." (Romans 8:29) Faith and our trust in Christ will be the quintessential aspects of applying obedience and growth in our maturity and character and it will lead to a Thankful Heart

Philippians 4:5-7

⁵ Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. ⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. ⁷ And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Kelly's Thrifty Tips

This weekend, I was visiting my family in California and my niece told me about all the money she has spent recently on her car. I imagine there are a lot of people in the same boat right now, and because of that, I just have to tell you about this site. Check out repairpal.com the next time you are going to get repairs on your car. With repairpal.com you can see if you are being charge a fair price for car repairs. It is simple and straightforward. Check out the site for yourself. :)

LINK: Repairpal.com

Can you believe that we are just weeks away from Thanksgiving? And shoppers know what that means. We are also weeks away from Black Friday! Crazy! Here is your website tip. There are many, many Black Friday sneak peek websites that give you some clues and more on what Black Friday sales are coming your way. Check out Black Friday 2010 for your sneak peek now. You can just search like crazy online too for other sites and links.

Who loves free food? I do! If you like Jack in the Box is offering two free tacos (limit two per person) just for the asking on November 16th after 2 pm. Mind you, do check with your local Jack in the Box because this offer is limited to participating locations. So once more: TWO TACOS AFTER 2PM AT PARTICIPATING JACK IN THE BOX LOCATIONS.

LINK: Jack in the Box 2 Tacos After 2pm

Try for your chance to win a sample of Thomas Coffee. There are 250 people chosen each month. I love coffee and will definitely give it a shot. :)

LINK: Thomas Coffee Sample

Looking for a calendar for the upcoming year? You can head over to Pilsbury's website, and sign up for one of their news letters, and an awesome Pilsbury 2011 calendar is yours!

LINK: Pilsbury Calendar

If you are a Betty Crocker fan, you can sign up for some of their email newsletters, and get their yummy 2011 calendar. Is it just me or is it almost crazy to think that we are that close to even needing a 2011 calendar?

LINK: Betty Crocker Calendar

At Everyday Health you can sign up for a free sample of Vaseline Intensive Rescue (first 1 million). There is a limit of one sample per household.

LINK: Vaseline Intensive Rescue

Today is Veteran's Day and participating Applebee's restaurants are going to again offer free entrees to all veterans and active duty military who come in on November 11th.

They can choose from a special Veteran's Day menu which has lots of favorites like 7 oz House Sirloin, Bacon Cheeseburger, Fiesta Lime Chicken, Double Crunch Shrimp, Oriental Chicken Salad and more. The link below will have details and the menu.

Again, check if your Applebee's is involved in this event and make sure to bring proof of service which includes: U.S. Uniform Services Identification Card, U.S. Uniform Services Retired Identification Card, Current Leave and Earnings Statement (LES), Photograph in uniform, Wearing uniform, Veterans Organization Card or DD214

LINK: Applebee's Veterans Eat Free on Veteran's Day

Chili's is also hooking up our veterans on Veteran's day. Again, proof of service is required, and it is limited to a specific menu (I will have a link to that menu here), but some of the items are Quesadilla Explosion Salad, Cajun Chicken Pasta, Chicken Club Tacos and more. Always check with your local restaurant for participation.

LINK: Chili's Veterans Eat Free on Veteran's Day

Golden Corral is having a Military Appreciation Monday on November 15th from 5pm to 9pm. Last year they honored over 335,000 veterans and active duty military with a free dinner buffet and beverage. Check to see if your local Golden Corral is participating.

LINK: Golden Corral Military Appreciation Monday

Dollar General is offering a 10% discount on Veteran's Day for Veterans, Active Military and their families. :) Follow the link to their website for details. Definitely again ask your local Dollar General if they are participating.

LINK: Dollar General

Let's not forget that EVERYONE gets free entry to US National Parks today! So if you are at home because you got Veteran's day off...go have some fun.

LINK: Free Entry to US National Parks on Veteran's Day

This Saturday, November 13th is Lowe's Build and Grow Clinic, and your child can make a fun periscope. November 20th workshop will be for a Snowman gift card holder. Check out the details.

LINK: Lowe's Build and Grow Clinics

While supplies last, sign up for a Style-n-Smile magnet frame from Scholastic and the American Association of Orthodontists. Also your order counts as an entry in their $1500 gift card sweepstakes so you may want to take the leap. :)

LINK: Style-n-Smile Magnet Frame

If you know someone who is expecting, how about taking advantage of a free download of Sing To Me A Lullabye Album at the WIC website.

LINK: Sing to Me Lullabye Album Download

iTickets.com has a free download this week of "The First Noel" by Revive. This is a great song to start off your Christmas collection for 2010!

LINK: iTickets Free Song Download

FreeCCM has a free download of Fee's song "Send Me" from their CD "Hope Rising." Also still available are songs by The Choir, Israel Houghton, Lincoln Brewster, and John Mark McMillan.

LINK: FreeCCM Free Song Download

While supplies last take advantage of the opportunity for a free sample of Purina ONE brand pet food.

LINK: Purina ONE

Oh His Marvelous Ways, May We Never Forget

Oh His Marvelous Ways, May we Never forget!

"God thunders with His voice wondrously, Doing great things
which we cannot comprehend. For to the snow He says, 'Fall on the earth,'
And to the downpour and the rain, 'Be strong.' He seals the hand of every man, that all men may know His work. (JOB 37:5-7)

”For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”-Isaiah 55:8,9

Tomorrow is Veterans Day. This is a day to honor and remember the great sacrifice, bravery and service the men and women of the military have given to this great Country. The will be parades, special ceremonies and a time to view memorials. In Honolulu is the memorial to Pearl Harbor, where you can see the memorial to the heroes of the sunken ship, the Arizona. It is a very moving experience to be taken out to the memorial built above the sunken ship and quietly contemplate the events that led to its destruction and the death of so many crew members. It is easy to be very moved, and to this day, the memorial, and the events it represents remain in our minds. Such sacrifice!

We can sometimes forget events of the past. To help His people remember the works He has done for them, the Lord commanded that certain memorials be erected to remind the people throughout the future generations of His miracles and His special care for them.

The Lord knows how important it is for the people to remember His works. For example, in Deuteronomy 6:10-12, He tells the Israelites: “10 ‘So it shall be, when the LORD your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, 11 houses full of all good things, which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full— 12 then beware, lest you forget the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.’”

We find in the Old Testament histories, in fact, that many times the people of Israel are told not to forget all God had done for them, by the Lord Himself, as well as by Moses, Joshua, and the prophets.

Look at Joshua 4 for a moment. The meaning of the Hebrew word for" memorial" in verse 7 is literally “to remember” or “rememberance.” Memorials have frequently played an important role in biblical history—memorials like this pile of stones, altars, the ark of the covenant—and memorials consisting of special holy days and celebrations

It is to be a time of remembering what God has done

“And these stones shall be for a memorial to the children of Israel forever” (v. 7). First, the memorial stones were to be a reminder of their own personal experience. Notice that in verse 6 that this memorial will cause the children to ask; “What do these stones mean to you?” These stones are first of all to be a reminder those who were present of their personal experience, what they saw, heard and felt. To paraphrase, “Tell your story, Keep a clear memory of what God did for you. Keep on telling your stories so that you never lose your own sense of awe and wonder of what God has done in your life.”

I want you to consider with me: What kind of memorials do we have in our lives? We all have memorials in our lives, no not a monument of stones, but one built of memories. There are memories of places, places that trigger memories just as the memorial stones in Gilgal. There are some significant places in your life that bring back memories.

We also have other memorials in our memories. There are memories of people God has used in our lives. For me, many of these are the people who encouraged me when I was wrestling with giving up a career and going to seminary. There are memories of experiences, of God’s answers to prayer and of God’s marvelous hand of provision. I remember in seminary how God always provided for our needs. We learned some valuable lessons about faith. Most lessons in faith are not something you can be taught, it is something that you must experience to truly understand. Those days in seminary and God’s constant provision for our family are memorials in my memory of His faithfulness and love.

There are also mementos of the past. If you were to come into my office and look around you would see miscellaneous objects that are reminders to me of life experiences—a picture of the family and many others. No doubt when you look around your home, you find similar memorials. Each of those objects triggers memories of what happened then, of the things that God did, and of things you experienced; some are experiences that have changed your life; others are memorials to warm memories you always want to remember.

The point is that God knows how we think and that is the reason that he instructs Joshua to build a memorial. So that each time the Israelites saw it they would be reminded that they had not crossed the Jordan on their own ability, their own strength but because of God. To understand what God was trying to teach His children Israel, spend some time thinking through your memorial stones, let them draw you closer to God and remind you of His faithfulness.

As with other memorials in the Old Testament, the intention of the memorial was to provoke questioning especially from future generations.

We need to remember that our faith is never more than one generation away from extinction. Just think about our own country. We have drifted away from our Christian foundation in just the last couple of generations. We need to tell each generation about the eternal life God offers to anyone who believes and the great things God has done for us and the rest of His people.

Perhaps we, too, can remember a monument, a pile of stones, a memorial to a time when we by an act of bold faith we decided to abandon ourselves to God and step out into the unknown to take new territory for Him—to step into the waters of the flooding river in faith that God will take us across and show His mighty Ways are true and can be trusted.