Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Collection, by Dr. Seuss
The Frog and Toad Collection, by Arnold Lobel
Nate the Great, by Margorie Weinman Sharmat (and other Nate the Great books!)
The Amelia Bedelia Treasury, by Peggy Parish
Great Children’s Books, Part 3: Books for Beginning Readers
July 28th, 2010Healthy and Fast Meals: Simple Spanish Rice
July 28th, 2010It’s what we all want for our families, isn’t it? Healthy meals that are quick and simple to make? Meals that don’t require funky ingredients or gourmet cooking lessons?
It would seem though that meals that are quick and simple tend to come out of a box or package. Food that comes out of a box isn’t always the most nutritious. Do we have to sacrifice health for convenience?
Absolutely not! I’m a BIG fan of convenience foods made healthy! I’m an even BIGGER fan of healthy convenience food that doesn’t make me think hard at the end of a long day. Oh, and if it’s all those things AND my kids will eat it? That’s huge in my book!
I’ll begin sharing some of my favorite kid friendly, healthy, simple, fast meal ideas here at Deal Moon. Today I’ll start with a one dish meal: Simple Spanish Rice
This dish uses brown rice, which is much healthier than plain white rice. Do you find it hard to get your family to eat brown rice? Not that I’m a betting kind of gal…but my bet is that if you add all these other yummy ingredients to the rice, your family may not even know they’re eating a healthy dish! I’m not one to be tricky…but hey…if they don’t ask…
Simple Spanish Rice
1 pound ground beef
3 cups water
1 1/2 cups brown rice
1/2 - 3/4 cups of your favorite salsa or picante sauce
Sea salt to taste
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
Begin by boiling the water in a large pot. Once the water is boiling, pour in the rice, give it a stir, cover the pot and turn down the heat to simmer. Set a timer for 45 minutes and leave the rice completely alone until the timer goes off. Tada! Rice is cooked!
In the meantime, you’ll be able to go start some laundry, read a book, throw away junk mail, clean the goo out from under the high chair…whatever you feel like doing with your 45 minutes of time.
Oh, and if you want to, you could get the ground beef all browned up and ready to go. Yes, that’s the next step. Brown the meat.
Once the rice and meat are cooked, stir them together with your salsa, salt and corn. Heat on low until corn is cooked through.
All done! You can serve this Simple Spanish Rice with some chilled fruit or a tossed salad and you have a complete meal!
Now, if you happen to have some leftover cooked chicken on hand, you could substitute that for the ground beef. Or, if you think your family might like a creamy version of Spanish Rice even better, you can stir in about a cup of sour cream after you have all the other ingredients mixed together (just remove it from the heat first). Shucks, top the dish with shredded cheese if it tickles your fancy.
This dish is very versitle and well, if I do say so myself…oh so yummy!
Laura Coppinger and her husband have four boys ages 5-13. She blogs at Heavenly Homemakers, a site dedicated to inspiring women daily with healthy recipes, homemaking tips, spiritual encouragement and good ol’ clean fun.
Great Children’s Books, Part 2: Books for Young Children
July 15th, 2010Very rare is the child who does not enjoy having books read aloud to them. My kids, especially my littlest guys all beg for me to read story after story to them. Some of their favorites became memorized by the time they were three or four. They excitedly spew out the words of the story faster than you can read them and look out if you happen to accidentally skip a page! Your child will let you know about it!
Cuddling up to read with your preschoolers and tots may be the only time of day they are actually quiet, still and well…quiet and still. Take advantage of those moments and pull out some books!
Here are a few of our favorites for ages 2-7 (and beyond!):
Dr. Seuss’s ABC, by Dr. Seuss (and other Dr. Seuss books)
A Treasury of Curious George , by Margret and H.A. Rey
Llama Llama Red Pajama, by Anna Dewdney and other Llama Llama books
If You Give a Moose a Muffin, by Laura Joffe Numeroff
Don’t Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus, by Mo Willems
Coming up next in this series: Books for Beginning Readers!
Laura Coppinger and her husband have four boys ages 5-13. She blogs at Heavenly Homemakers, a site dedicated to inspiring women daily with healthy recipes, homemaking tips, spiritual encouragement and good ol’ clean fun.
An Easy Lunch: Black Bean Salsa
July 1st, 2010Ever get tired of sandwiches for lunch? I hardly ever even feed my family sandwiches for lunch because really…by the time I’ve calculated in the cost of a decent loaf of bread, higher quality lunch meat, mayo and the works for my crew of big eaters…I may as well have made a pot roast. Seriously, I did the math one time.
Do you know what it costs me to feed sandwiches to my family of big eaters? Eight dollars and forty six cents.
And that’s just the sandwiches.
Our family of six does, without a doubt, finish an entire loaf of bread and the entire contents of at least two packages of deli meat. Add fruit and carrots to that, and milk to drink…it can really add up!
Now, could I buy the cheaper bread and a package of bologna and save money? Sure. But, blech. (and I mean that in the kindest way possible)
So let’s review: It costs me more to feed my family sandwiches than it does for me to make them a pot roast. And throwing a pot roast in the crock pot takes less time. How about that?
You always knew I was a nerd, didn’t you? Calculating the cost of sandwiches vs. a pot roast? Sounds like I have too much extra time on my hands doesn’t it?
If you really think I have too much time on my hands, I’d be happy to smack you with a dust rag. (A dirty dust rag.) I just figured out the cost to make a point, that’s all. Point made…moving along.
When you’re trying to eat a healthy diet, figuring out exciting and economical lunches can be a challenge. And, if you are trying to pack a healthy lunch to take to school or work, it can be even more of a challenge.
This yummy Black Bean Salsa is delicious, good for you, and super easy to put together for a quick lunch. Pack it up “to go” with some corn chips and some fruit and you’ve got a great lunch that’s easy to take anywhere.
Black Bean Salsa
1 cup dried black beans
5 tomatoes, diced
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 cup frozen corn, steamed and cooled
¼ cup chopped cilantro
Soak beans in water overnight. Drain and cover with fresh water in saucepan. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 45 minutes. Drain.
In a large bowl, mix together beans, tomatoes, onion, corn and cilantro. Stir together. Store in refrigerator. Serve with corn chips or baked tortilla chips.
Make this salsa even easier by using canned black beans and canned corn…then all you have to do is quickly throw all the ingredients into a bowl and stir! Mmmmm…I LOVE this stuff!
Now, I didn’t take the time to calculate the cost of this black bean salsa, because what do you think I do all day anyway? Sit around calculating the costs of my lunches?! 
Laura Coppinger and her husband Matt have four sons, ages 5-13. A stay-at-home mom, Laura maintains a Web site www.heavenlyhomemakers.com dedicated to inspiring women daily with healthy recipes, homemaking tips, spiritual encouragement and good ol’ clean fun.
Great Children’s Books, Part 1: Books for Babies
June 17th, 2010I started reading to my firstborn before his ears were formed in my womb. We began a collection of children’s books and started filling a shelf to prepare for parenthood long before our first son was born. Both my husband and I love reading and we wanted the same for our children.
I remember holding our first baby son in the rocking chair when he was about 47 hours old, reading a little counting book to him. He was totally impressed. (Although I believe he dozed off a time or two.)
He and I read so much and so often that he had many of his little board books memorized by the time he turned one. He had also chewed and drooled on them a great deal, but no matter. That’s what baby board books are for.
Here are a few of our favorite little tiny person books:
Goodnight Moon, by Margaret Wise Brown
Go Dog Go, by P.D. Eastman
Razzle Dazzle Number Book, by Chuck Murphey
Pooh Can, Can You? , by Carol North
The Wheels on the Bus, by Raffi
Just in Case You Ever Wonder, by Max Lucado
Aw, the memories. Cuddling with our sweet little ones while reading favorite books over and over was a precious, priceless time. What are your favorite books to read to itty bitties?
Stay tuned for more children’s book recommendations: Great Books for Pre-Schoolers, Great Books for Early Readers, Great Chapter Books for Beginners, Great Books for Young Girls, Great Books for Young Boys, Great Books to Read To Your Kids…
Is there no end to all the great books to be recommended?!
Laura Coppinger and her husband have four boys ages 5-13. She blogs at Heavenly Homemakers, a site dedicated to inspiring women daily with healthy recipes, homemaking tips, spiritual encouragement and good ol’ clean fun.
Save on Groceries with E-Coupon
May 31st, 2010Did you know that nowadays, you can directly load grocery coupons into your club cards? Most of the major grocery stores now support downloading ecoupon from their websites. For example, I shop most often at Safeway, so I linked my club card account to Safeway.com,
Load Grocery eCoupon into your Safeway Club Card
and I was able to download all the grocery coupons that I am interested in. When I pay for those groceries, the coupon is apply directly through the club card. No more coupon clipping! How convenient!
Best of all, sometimes you can combine paper coupon with your ecoupon and discounts could be applied twice on certain items — I just bought a bag of Huggies Diapers for $2.99 with $3 on eCoupon, $2 on Manufacturer’s coupon, and $2 on Safeway advertised weekly(paper) coupon!
Go check on your favorite grocery stores’ websites now and start loading eCoupons!
Infant Carseat buying guide
April 9th, 2010Infant car seats should be No.1 of a new parent’s shopping list. You need one to take your baby home from the hospital and for every car trip with your baby thereafter.
Last year I got my first baby and did some extensive “research” on how to select a good infant car sear. Here is some information that I want to share with you.
Except those gimcracks, I suggest you to pay attention to the following features:
|
Features
|
Note
|
|
Covers, padding and cushions
|
Thicker padding and adjustable cushions are available for many seats and can make the seat more comfortable. Just make sure that they are made for the specific seat by the same maker and have been tested with the exact same seat in government crash tests. Never use 3rd party products on car seat.
|
|
Fabric
|
There are so many choices for you in this category too. I recommend dark color ones because babies can be messy sometime. Washable fabric is a good choice too. Avoid leather because it can be ice cold in winter and smoky hot in summer.
|
|
Harnesses
|
 A built-in adjustable five-point harness system is a must for infant car seats. It is an attachment between the stationary part of car seat and your baby. Pay attention to the harness slots. They allow you to adjust the height of the harness. The more slots there are, the better the car seat can accomodate baby’s growth. Some car seats are equipped with external harness adjustment which I found is quite convenient. It let you adjust the harness height without having to remove the car seat from the base and rethread the strap. |
|
LATCH connections
|
 LATCH (Lower Anchors and Tethers for Children),consists of child car-seat connections that attach to anchor points in the car. Generally there are two kinds of LATCH connectors: “Hook style” and “Push-on” style. In my opinion, “Hook style” is easy enough to us. Of course the “Push-on” style is easier to install, especially in some cars where the LATCH anchors are hard to reach. |
|
Recline adjustment
|
 It’s better to have a multiple recline adjustment because it will not only help you get the correct angle, but also can make baby more comfortable. Babies prefer different recline level at different age. A handy recline adjustment is surely useful. |
|
Recline level indicators
|
 Some car seats have a ball or bubble-type indicator on both sides of the seat. They are very nice and “professional”, but i think a reference line on the seat is good enough to indicate the right recline position. |
Okay, after researching and comparing, here are a couple of infant car seat I would recommend.
| No.1 : Graco SnugRide with EPS | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
| No.2 : Chicco KeyFit | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
| No.3 : Evenflo Embrace | |||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||
Winter is Almost Over? Sale Just Started!
January 18th, 2010Yesterday I was at this local shopping center which has just about 10 outlet stores, and surprisingly, I found great deals going on in almost every one of the stores.
At Ann Taylor, I saw the nice coat I bought 2 months ago now selling for 80% off at $59 (too bad I bought it at $119)! 
At Eddie Bauer, I saw many good quality sweaters selling for $15, and men’s goose down jackets for $39.99! At this price, I was seriously thinking about buying some and reselling them after 9 months! Then at Pac Sun I saw these great $12 winter slippers selling for $3.50, and I couldn’t resist to buy 2 pairs. When I arrived home I gave one pair to my mom and kept one pair myself, $7 well spent!
Top 10 Black Friday Shopping Tips
November 22nd, 2009
1. Look at Online Buying Guides first
For those of you who already have your desired items in mind (TV, Laptop, Camera, Printer, GPS, Vacuum Machine, etc), there are existing Black Friday buying guides for each popular category, so that you only need to do minimal research.
2. Start your Black Friday on Thursday
A lot of the big stores will have most of their Black Friday sales online from Thursday, until the following Monday. Avoid the crowd by shopping Black Friday Deals Online.
3. Plan Ahead, Know Your Stores
Go to the stores on Wednesday (many are closed on Thursday) and make sure you know where the sections you’ll need are located. This will ensure you to grab the best deals within minimal time.
Different stores have different opening times. Make sure you have a clear plan on which one to go first, second, and third, etc…
4. Do Price Comparison Online Before You Go
Sometimes you will be spending the whole Black Friday morning buying things you thought are cheap, only to find that they are actually cheaper online. Do the price research online first before you go.
5. Bring the Black Friday Ads
Be sure to have the Black Friday ads on hand. It’s not only for your own reference; many stores have price match policy, so you can show them the exact product in other stores which could be being advertised for less.
6. Free After Rebate Items
There are a lot of Free After Rebate Items during Black Friday Sale. However, do remember to submit the rebates on time, and also keep a copy of the rebate form in case your rebate mail gets lost.
7. Go to the Less Crowded Store
It may take you longer to drive to a store which is further away and located in a less populated city, but that extra drive might worth it — you will find less people in the store and have better chance to get that hot item you want.
8. Bring Someone Along with You
Remember that long checkout line? It would be nice if someone comes along with you and start in that line while you are in the store fetching things….
9. Go For the Less Popular Items First
This one might surprise a lot of you, but sometimes you should go for the less popular items first! If you get into the store very late and don’t feel you have a good chance of getting the really hot items, change your strategy and go for the less popular items first.
10. Use the Credit Card with Best Protection
You never know what will happen to your Black Friday purchase. Always use the credit card with the best Warranty Coverage, return protection, and sale price protection — Some of the credit card companies will offer this protection and refund you the difference if a product you buy is marked down further than the price you paid within a certain time frame (usually 60 days).
See A Collection of Your Favorite Store’s Weekly Ad Online
November 1st, 2009Would like to take a peek at next week’s sale at your favorite store? Dealmoon.com has just released our Weekly Ads page, which displays Weekly Ads for more than 230 local and online stores including well-known department stores, 100+ grocery stores. 
For first time visitors, you can find your favorite stores’ weekly ads by typing in the name of the store in the “Search All Stores” text field. When the next time you come back to this weekly ad page, the list of your “Recently visited Store” will be displayed, so you don’t have to search again!
Happy shopping!