Thursday, July 17, 2014
Money Saving Thursday #2: Eating FREE on Vacation
The trick to eating FREE on vacation is joining chain restaurants clubs and using coupons. Many restaurants have clubs but I'm sharing my favs. These restaurants continually prove to me they don't send junk mail! I receive valuable coupons and you can too! Coupons can be printed or conveniently shown to your server right on your smartphone for redemption. It's that simple! Below are a list of restaurants with FREE food.
Chili's Email Club Receive a free endless Chips and Salsa with registration. Requires the purchase of one adult entree. You will receive coupons from Chili's 1 to 2 times a week for FREE food options. Their Molten Cakes are to die for plus they have a $20 Dinner for Two that is awesome. Find a Chili's close to your vacation here.
Red Lobster Email Club. Get a free appetizer or dessert with the purchase of two adult entrees. Receive emails for special food events and discount coupons. Find a Red Lobster for your vacation here.
Arby's Get Deals. Receive a free roast beef sandwich with the purchase of a drink when you sign up. Arby's is always sending a free coupon for their latest taste crazes too! Find the nearest slicer here.
Long John Silver's Coupon Club. Get a free drink for signing up. LJS sends emails about current promotions and deals. For example, they have $1.99 Fish & Fries this week. This is my Dad's favorite place for fish. LJS gives Dad's a FREE meal on Father's Day. Score for Dad and me! Search locations here.
Longhorn Steakhouse eClub. Free appetizer with purchase of adult entree. Receive occasional coupons for free appetizer or dessert. Search for a Longhorn Steakhouse here.
Other perks of these restaurants and clubs:
- Serves FREE Water. Make FREE Lemonade by adding FREE sugar packets and FREE lemon to your FREE water.
- Sends FREE birthday coupons so it's sweeter if your vacationers celebrate birthdays in the same month!
- Join the clubs with multiple email addresses for more FREE stuff.
- Welcome customers to share food.
- No plate charge for sharing food.
- Allows customers to eat from the kids menu.
More tips:
- 50 or older? Always ask for a senior drink. They are usually FREE or reduced price.
- The Combination Meals (sandwich, fries & drink) are not always the best value. For example, you can get the same or comparable food individually from the value menu at Wendy's, Burger King and Arby's cheaper than ordering a combo.
- Dipping sauces. Save your extras on vacation or for vacation. Extra sauces are .25 each.
- Check your local newspaper for chain restaurant coupons like Steak n Shake and McDonald's. McDonald's has Buy One Get One FREE coupons a lot!
- Pack individual Crystal Light or Koolaid packets to flavor FREE water.
- 55+? Look for restaurants that offer reduced senior pricing like IHOP, Outback Steakhouse (AARP members), Golden Corral, Arby's, Carrabba's Italian Grill (AARP members receive 20% off) and Applebee's.
- Save 25% at Papa Johns on pizza when ordering online. Use coupon code AARP25
- Take advantage of the kids menu whenever possible
- Pack some sandwich food and have a picnic at a rest area
Like these tips? Make sure you don't miss another Money Saving Thursday, join this site or sign up by email. Scroll down and look on the right side of the page to see how!
Getting hungry writing this,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Demystifying Speaking in Tongues
DISCLAIMER: Before I get into this topic I want you to understand about my attempt to explain speaking in tongues. This is my belief as I perceive it from God. You may disagree, agree or think about it. If you'd like to express your opinion or ask a question, simply reply to this email. I, in no way, want to take anything away or add anything to the Holy Scriptures.
I've read commentaries and opinions on speaking in tongues. I'm not sure exactly what happened in Acts when people spoke in tongues. I do know when I need an answer , I seek God for wisdom. Speaking in tongues tends to be made too mysterious by us. Things we don't understand becomes taboo or only for the highly spiritual. Hold on! You are about to read how God explained tongues to me.
Let's talk about music, golf and computers. Can you identify an 8th note or play a B flat scale? Do you know what penalty to take if you hit your golf ball out of bounds or how to calculate your handicap? Do you know how to ping a device or format a hard drive? You may be asking yourself what is an 8th note or, kind of laughing under your breath thinking I don't want a handicap, or wondering what kind of hammer you need to ping a device. If you're asking yourself these questions, you don't speak these languages. If you can do all these things, you know their tongues. I know all three of these languages better than most and not nearly as well as others. Every person, tribe, country, subject, job, denomination, etc. have their own language or tongue.
The Bible says in I Corinthians 14:6-7 "Now, brethren, if I come unto you speaking with tongues, what shall I profit you, except I shall speak to you either by revelation, or by knowledge, or by prophesying, or by doctrine? And even things without life giving sound, whether pipe or harp, except they give a distinction in the sounds, how shall it be known what is piped or harped?" I love that last sentence because it's easily understood. If a pipe and harp want to communicate to be understood they must be speaking the same tongue or the same "key" as it is referred to by musicians. Two or more instruments that aren't in key or synchronized with one another makes an awful noise. Oftentimes the song being played cannot be recognized.
How does this relate to you and me as a Christian? We have to be careful distinguishing our "tongue" so people understand. Think about this. A visitor comes to your church who knows nothing of your service or your religion. Think about all the things they might hear during your service that may confuse them. Hymnal. Drink this, it is my blood of the New Testament. Sunday School. Gifts of the Spirit. Get the idea? Additionally, we, as Christians, have God's Spirit to guide us to understanding. An unbeliever does not have his indwelling enlightenment. They struggle to understand what we mean when we say "I was saved yesterday." Saved from what? "My friend was baptized." Why? "We took communion." Where did you take him? Christians have their own tongue.
I Corinthians 14:5 says "I would that ye all spake with tongues but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying." God wants us to proclaim his love, his forgiveness and future coming simply. Prophesy means to tell of future events. We should tell people of Christ's love and forgiveness in a way they can understand. Folks can understand if they commit sin they are responsible for it. People feel the guilt of their sins they just don't know The Remedy for them. We also need to be aware when we are talking around unbelievers. Our best topics to proclaim Jesus are probably not The Great White Throne Judgment, speaking in tongues or The Holy Ghost. These subjects would be an unknown tongue to most people.
Does this make sense? I don't think there is anything in God's storehouse that is unavailable to us, even speaking in tongues, if, we can comprehend the meaning. In short, if you don't have specific knowledge, you can't speak the tongue. You can certainly speak the Christian tongue with fellow Christians. They should know the language.
Sorting it out,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Monday, July 14, 2014
Mom-ism Monday #11 and a Super Six Flags Deal
My Mom was born in 1940. The year after the official end of The Great Depression. Her parents were farmers raising 10 kids (she was a twin) during hard times. They taught her to be frugal when it came to be economically sound right down to the penny. My lack of a monthly balanced checkbook is hard for her to comprehend.
My husband Steve has a habit of leaving coins laying around. This bad habit makes my mom and dad shake their heads. My Dad was born in 1937 during The Great Depression. He knows and respects the value of money. When I took up Steve's bad habit of leaving coins in my console or neglecting to pick up stray coins in a parking lot, she always says "Tammy, pennies makes dollars!". I didn't agree much at first, but I'm catching on!
See Mom sitting on the hotel balcony during a beach trip in 2008. She looks like she doesn't have a care in the world. But I know, secretly, she's thinking "Pennies makes Dollars!". I repeat this phrase quite frequently to my kids. I'm not sure who coined it. It may have been Juanita!
Speaking of pennies making dollars, there is a wise phrase we all know "A Penny Saved is a Penny Earned". I love to save! Don't you? Are you planning a trip to Six Flags Over Any State? Do you have a "My Coke Rewards" account? If you don't you should! Those Coke lids are worth cool savings. I admit they are a little daunting inputting them into the mcr.com website but they do pay off.
At mcr.com, you enter codes from Coke lids for points and redeem the points for rewards. Great thing about the Six Flags discount is you don't need any lids at all. Simply go to mcr.com with a valid email address. Register for an account. Log in. Search the word Six Flags. The first reward that pops up is a 40% ticket discount for 0 points. You will receive an email that explains how to buy your discounted ticket. How awesome is that? That's a savings of $22 per ticket for simply registering. If you already have an account with a points balance, MCR also has an awesome FREE Six Flags ticket for 1000 points.
Pssstt! Keep saving those pennies. I don't know if you've heard but they make dollars!
Pennies are lucky,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
My husband Steve has a habit of leaving coins laying around. This bad habit makes my mom and dad shake their heads. My Dad was born in 1937 during The Great Depression. He knows and respects the value of money. When I took up Steve's bad habit of leaving coins in my console or neglecting to pick up stray coins in a parking lot, she always says "Tammy, pennies makes dollars!". I didn't agree much at first, but I'm catching on!
See Mom sitting on the hotel balcony during a beach trip in 2008. She looks like she doesn't have a care in the world. But I know, secretly, she's thinking "Pennies makes Dollars!". I repeat this phrase quite frequently to my kids. I'm not sure who coined it. It may have been Juanita!
At mcr.com, you enter codes from Coke lids for points and redeem the points for rewards. Great thing about the Six Flags discount is you don't need any lids at all. Simply go to mcr.com with a valid email address. Register for an account. Log in. Search the word Six Flags. The first reward that pops up is a 40% ticket discount for 0 points. You will receive an email that explains how to buy your discounted ticket. How awesome is that? That's a savings of $22 per ticket for simply registering. If you already have an account with a points balance, MCR also has an awesome FREE Six Flags ticket for 1000 points.
Pssstt! Keep saving those pennies. I don't know if you've heard but they make dollars!
Pennies are lucky,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Sunday, July 13, 2014
Savings for Back to School and College
School Supplies are fun to buy! I always enjoyed going with my girls to get them. I loved getting a list from their teachers and buying every single item on it. Teachers did you know you can Create your School List on Amazon
to make purchasing school supplies easy for parents? It's not too late to create your list for open house. Don't wait until the school supplies get picked over. Order your child's today from Amazon.
Some reasons you should buy online from Amazon:
- Shopping from home (still just as fun) and jane or junior can help pick out their items while being educated on bargain shopping and computer skills. Can you say win/win?
- Saves money and gas
- No lines to stand in to get out the door
- No scanning required. Just push the enter button to checkout!
- Double the fun opening the supplies when they arrive at your door or mailbox
- Great deals
College Students can Shop Amazon for Used Textbooks - Save up to 90%
! A 90% saving could potentially save hundreds of $$$ to use for tuition, meals, lodging or other items you may need like Shop Amazon - Off to College
. I found buying used textbooks for my daughters during their bachelors and graduate programs was a HUGE value. After they used them, I sold them on Half.com, an eBay company.TIP: I loved used textbooks but never buy refurbished or reconditioned printer cartridges.
It gets better for college parents... Join Amazon Student FREE Two-Day Shipping for College Students
and ship to your college student for FREE!Back-to-school signals the end of summer. Don't think about the end of summer vacation, think about those beautiful new school supplies. Think about how excited your kids will be about school starting with those pristine new pencils, paper and erasers. I can smell the sweet eraser rubber now, can't you?
Looking forward to buying Lisette some,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Our Crazy Made-up Language - Epparksford!
I love my family! We have so much fun together. One of the things we do is make up words. They may come from a mispronunciation, a twisted tongue and sometimes, we think the word just sounds better said another way. Does you family do this? Truthfully, these words stick! We replace the English version with our funny family language word. My Dad probably says the funniest ones. Can you name the fruits and veggies in this picture?
.JPG "zucchini")
Here's another one. My driving drives my husband crazy. His misophonia drives me crazy. On our 12 hour ride to Florida, I begged him to go to sleep, take a nerve pill or something. Luckily, he chose the little bitty pill. He was fast asleep in no time. Finally, peace for Sydnee and me. Sydnee was driving. Steve, fast asleep, raised up and said "Syd, if you'll stop, I'll pump the gas." We looked puzzled at each other in the rearview mirror. We had a full tank from the gas he just pumped. He woke a little later and asked for a water. He got strangled. After he got his throat cleared, he said "Wow, for a minute there I thought I might need the Heimlich remover! We laughed and laughed. No more maneuvers in our life-saving bag. We do the Heimlich REMOVER because it works, not just as a CPR tool but as a word that makes sense!
What words have your family made up? Leave me a comment and share it with us!
Defining life,
Tammy
The Happy Handicap
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