Pumpkin Pie Oatmeal

I love hot oatmeal for breakfast! I get bored easily, though, if I have the same thing over and over so I like to mix up the add-ins. Yesterday's oatmeal was particularly inspired and amazingly delicious! Here's the recipe, Grandma-style (approximations):

-Cooked oatmeal. I simmer 1/2 cup rolled oats in 1 cup water until its thick and soft--usually 5-7 minutes

-Handful of walnut pieces.

-2 spoonfuls Pumpkin Butter. I used the delicious one made by Prissy's of Vidalia that I won from Giveaway Hog!

-1 spoonful cream cheese.

-Cinnamon to taste (so lots and lots).

Serves 1 nursing mom. 

Winning Ways: The Basics…and a $500 dollar giveaway!

Why are there so many giveaways? These day companies are using bloggers as a type of word-of-mouth advertising to draw attention to their products through reviews and giveaways. Also, some blogs find sponsors who will advertise on their site and occasionally have a giveaway (as with yarn shops). Of course companies do their own sweepstakes on their websites and Facebook, but these often have many, many people entering and last for months before they close. I find blog giveaways the most fun because there are fewer entrants and they close within days or weeks. Also, bloggers get together to give away gift cards or Paypal cash to promote their blogs and get more readers. Whatever the reason, we benefit!

How to find giveaways:

1.Follow my Twitter feed! Ha ha. (no really, that’s almost all I use it for. @chels580)

2. Find a blog you like that also has giveaways for things relevant to your interests and follow and or subscribe to them.

3. Google search. Almost every day I google “yarn giveaway” and, using the tools (or the little wrench glyph on my ipad), limit it to the past 24 hours. Of course, if you are less compulsive than I, you can search less frequently and select 2 days, one week, or a custom time frame. An added bonus of this rather greedy enterprise is that I’ve found some great knitting blogs, podcasts, and Etsy shops that I happily follow!

How to enter giveaways:

            Needless to say, the instructions are always right there for you. But I want to mention Rafflecopter for the uninitiated so that fear of the unknown will not be an issue. Rafflecopter is a widget that changed the face of blog giveaways ad has made entering them so very easy. When it loads on the blog page you can log in with Facebook or your name and email. I like the facebook login option myself. Here’s a tutorial, if you wish. Have no fear, I have entered oodles of giveaways without my computer bursting into flames. Well, there was that one time, but we can’t really say where the virus actually came from and my husband got to work his sexy computer-fixing mojo!

And just for kicks, here is a Rafflecopter giveaway to win $500 dollars! Contest Chest is a site that lists giveaways of all kinds. If you sign up for their email they will send you a list of giveaways once a day. There is one mandatory entry and everything else is optional. Have fun!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Winning Ways—A Word of Warning

(Alliteration much?)

Why enter giveaways online? You will win. I promise you. Well, let me add a caveat: you will win if you enter A LOT of giveaways. For several months entering giveaways has been one of my hobbies and I have won some valuable prizes. Here are a few of my favorites:

            12 (!!!!) cloth diapers from Lotus Bumz

            3 skeins of hand died yarn

            A giant sampler pack of gourmet popcorn from Dale and Thomas

Even though an evil little thought wants to keep these giveaways to myself, I’m going to do a little series about entering giveaways and what I have learned. I’m going to start at the end:

Reasons NOT to enter giveaways:

-Its addicting

            There are lots of studies that show what gambling does to your brain. As reported here, the parts of the brain involved in anticipating a win show a similar response to cocaine or morphine. That is an extremely simplistic statement, but the bottom line is that anticipating a good outcome feels good. That good feeling may incent a person (cough, me, cough) to keep looking for that good feeling. Without limits, the losses pile up—not in money, but in time. There is NO WAY to enter All of the available giveaways. Set limits!

-It feeds the bottomless pit of materialism.

            I have always thought of myself as an anti-consumer. I rarely buy new things, shopping at thrift stores, garage sales, and Craigslist. But at the heart of consumerism is the desire for more, more, more! Having is not enough; the desire never ends. Since I always seem to be thinking about the next thing that I want or need, I guess I am a consumer. I just want my stuff to be free, or at least deeply discounted!

            We are designed to be completely fulfilled and whole in the presence of our Creator. Our never-ending longing is a signpost pointing to our need for God. Only His love will completely fulfill us and Jesus has already done everything necessary to restore our relationship. Our part is to trust Him and love Him. So when I feel frantic to enter the next giveaway for an apron I just NEED, or when I’ve finished eating and I want to think of the next thing to put in my mouth, I remember this:

           

“But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Phillipians 4:19

            "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.” Matthew 7:7

            “Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

            I’m grateful for the things I have won, and I find it fun to keep entering giveaways. But I want to remember that these things are temporary and that my Father has even better things in store for me that I can’t even imagine. How great is that!

Another thought about longing that points to God. I find when I hear a piece of beautiful music, or see something beautiful in nature or in the love of a child, I’m filled with wonder and, at the same time, a painful longing. C.S.Lewis talked about it in Surprised by Joy. That fleeting and painful joy leads me to worship the Author of all beauty. This morning in ’10 was like that for me.