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February 23, 2006

Imagine this. It’s 4 am, and you’re sound asleep. Or you’re sitting in the quiet darkness of your home feeding your baby. Meanwhile, halfway around the world, ten people have just bought a product from you, for $20 each. Now, that extra $200 will go into your bank account to help you pay bills this month. And you didn’t have to do a thing.

That’s the beauty of e-books, which is a topic that’s fascinated me lately. I know so little about them, yet I’m curious. So, I decided to track down an e-book expert who also happens to be a fellow blogger and a mom of teenagers.

Alyice Edrich

Alyice Edrich is the author of several work-from-home e-books, including Tid-Bits for Making Money With E-Books. She’s the founder of The Dabbling Mum, an online resource for parents and small business owners. Alyice enjoys teaching parents how to earn hundreds of dollars by selling information they already possess.

Hi, Alyice. Thanks for stopping in today. Can you tell us a little about e-books?

E-books are electronic, downloadable books. Many are written on very narrow topics, topics traditional publishers wouldn’t print because they tend to prefer marketing to larger audiences.

So far, e-books aren’t as popular as print books because people are still learning about them and getting used to the idea of paying for something they have to first download and print out using their own resources. Some buyers consider this double payment: payment to read material and payment to print out.

What kind of people buy e-books? Is there really a market for them?

Most e-book buyers are people who spend a lot of time online. They are used to the whole “instant access” mentality and look forward to reading e-books that are up-to-date and can be read within minutes of ordering.

Moms who stay at home or work from home also tend to buy e-books over print books because they can research, order, and read while their children are sleeping, which means one less outing.

Oh yes. I know all about the difficulty of getting out shopping with kids. Especially in a quiet bookstore! Can you tell us more about e-book topics? How do you know if you’re really an expert on a topic?

I always tell people to think first about things that their friends and family members constantly come to them asking advice for. That’s always a great place to start because that means you’re passionate about that topic and have often researched for the simple pleasure of knowing more or to help improve your current circumstances.

Most moms think, “I’m a parent and I read lots of stuff to improve my parenting skills, so I’ll start a website or write a book on parenting” or they think, “I really want to stay home and start a home business. I’ve researched a lot of information and am pretty knowledgeable so I’ll start a website geared towards helping other parents stay home or work from home.” While those are great topics, they have actually been done to death and will make it very difficult for new businesses and books to stand out from the crowd. This means that in order to become successful with these topics, these moms would have to work double (and sometimes triple) time just to break even.

Wow. I hadn’t thought about that. What are some ideas you’d recommend for moms interested in writing an e-book?

I encourage moms to stay away from overdone themes and instead find something that is narrower, that they can really call their own. It’s important, when trying to make a living from home, to find an area that is lacking and then fill that area.

Let’s say that you did read a lot about working from home and you consider yourself pretty knowledgeable so you decide to start a work-from-home website to teach others what you know. What you’re doing is actually reiterating what you learned. You have no hands-on experience because you haven’t yet started a business and seen it to success.

Can you give us an example of something that would be better?

Instead of starting yet another, work-at-home (WAHM) website, I would encourage you to think outside the box.

For starters, what do you do for fun? What is the one hobby that you simply cannot get enough of? What is the one thing that your husband says to you, “Why do you have to constantly spend my hard-earned money on that? I sure wish you could make some money off that instead of always spending our money!”

Once you’ve figured that out, sit down and jot down what you know about the subject. Then get online and see what others have written about it. Are there a lot of copycats out there? If so, there is plenty of room for you to be unique and offer something far more valuable. Look around and see what’s missing. What can you offer that others are not providing?

That’s the business you want to start. And that’s the e-book you want to write. Don’t just write an e-book on a specific subject; build a business around that e-book and you’ll open up a floodgate of opportunities.

These are some great ideas, Alyice. I feel like we’re just getting started! But we’ve run out of time today, so I hope you’ll be able to come back tomorrow and tell us more about making money while we sleep!

*****************************************

OK, Mom 2 Mom readers, are your e-book gears spinning? Alyice has given us a start, but tomorrow she’ll be back to tell us more about researching, writing, and marketing our e-books. I for one have a few ideas simmering, but I’d like more details — wouldn’t you?

Meanwhile, Alyice invites you to look at an article she wrote on this topic, as well as visit her at The Dabbling Mum Press.




February 22, 2006

The Carnival of Beauty is today, hosted by Michele of Chasing Contentment. You can visit her site and read a collection of nine posts written on the theme of The Beauty of Friendship. Michele says:

This morning, I found an e-card in my in-box from a friend, thanking me for my friendship. The card mentioned that February is International Friendship Month, a fitting time for a Carnival about friendship.

She also took the time to look up several scriptures relating to friendship — so this whole Carnival is inspiring, and I’m glad I’ll have this link in my archives. I’m sure I’ll be peeking at it again in the months to come. I’ve enjoyed that Technorati search tool in my sidebar a lot lately — I’ve found a blog to be a great place to store my thoughts that would have gotten lost if I hadn’t recorded them.

A quick note of congratulations to those of you who are finalists in the Share the Love Blog Awards. You can vote for your favorites until February 27. I only recognized a few of the finalists, and one is Katy’s Fallible blog, which is my pick for best design. I recognized her to be a kindred spirit because she also interviewed Mary DeMuth on her blog tour. If you love the French language and antique beauty, you’ll love Katy’s site!

Hmmm…how can I say this? More than ever, I appreciate Sallie of Two Talent Living’s diligence in making sure the blogs nominated for her awards last fall were clean for viewing. I visited a few of the finalist’s blogs to consider voting, and I felt like a frog who hit boiling water and jumped right on out. Why do women blog about such crass things? I don’t know. I guess I don’t get out much beyond the blogs in my blogroll and participants in the Carnival of Beauty (and those of you kind enough to leave me comments!) Just a warning, in case you were heading that way.




The forces of darkness figured out a long time ago
that they don’t have to make any Christian family bad;
they just have to make them too busy.

Dr. Tim Kemmel

Connecting With Your Kids

I read this quote when I opened up Timothy Smith’s book, Connecting With Your Kids: How Fast Families Can Move from Chaos to Closeness. From the very first page, I saw our family between the covers — he was talking to me. I’m the one who manages our family schedule, and it was the perfect timing to hear some straight talk from a professional family coach.

Smith uses the analogy of a runner finding the right pace throughout the book, which he calls “discovering your heartprint.” The four types of heartprints are the cruiser, the walker, the runner, and the biathlete. When members of your family run at different paces, you can see how it’s difficult to move forward together.

I think the material in this book is as revolutionary as Gary Chapman’s Five Love Languages, which is still on the bestseller list the last time I checked. People love reading books by counselors who regularly meet with families in crisis — we’re all looking for solutions, and it helps to see how others handle life.

I enjoyed learning how families all have different paces. As a mom, I’ve realized my pace has had to change in the past few years and sometimes it drives me crazy. I’m a “runner” — I like to move fast and get a lot accomplished. But the more our family has grown, I’ve had to slow down. Babies and small children get sick and have to stay home to recuperate; pregnancy can be nine months of exhaustion; and traveling with children requires days of planning and packing.

This book reminded me that it’s OK to operate in seasons. My main role is to help introduce our children to a relationship with Christ — even if they don’t become Olympic athletes, Carnegie-hall-bound musicians, or academy-award-winning stars. Do they know Jesus personally? Do they love Him? Will they obey Him on their own when they grow up?

Connecting With Your Kids is pefect for group discussions because it’s got “Parent-to-Parent” and “Parent and Child” questions at the end of each chapter. I’ve mentioned to several people this would be a GREAT book for Sunday School or Bible Study.

[This book was sent to me from Mind & Media as a gift from the publisher.]

I also put on my best Sunday-shoe words and wrote a spiffy review of this book for Christian Book Previews, which has been cross-posted on Amazon.

P.S. I must add:
THIS BOOK HAS AN ADORABLE COVER!! DON’TCHA LOVE IT?




February 21, 2006

Another fun test for y’all.

Your Linguistic Profile:

60% General American English
40% Dixie
0% Midwestern
0% Upper Midwestern
0% Yankee



This week’s topic for the Carnival of Beauty is “Friendship,” hosted by Michele of Chasing Contentment. I’m having such a great time reflecting on these topics — I think about ideas while I’m going about my daily routines. It’s amazing what inspiration comes to my mind while I’m washing dishes, which is why my handy dandy notebook has wrinkled pages from soapsud-induced mad scribbling. (Does anyone else feel like you’ll die if you don’t write something down?)

So while I was thinking about friendship, sweet Blair at Scribblings by Blair tapped me for a Valentine meme about marriage. The question was, “What’s one thing you’ve learned about marriage that you could pass along to others?” I started writing about my parents — because most of what I know about marriage comes from observing them my whole life — but then I thought — Hey! This topic ties in great with friendship. So I saved my answer for this Carnival.

Being married to your best friend is one of the greatest gifts life has to offer. I thank God every day for this gift in my home now. But I also had this modeled for me growing up. My mom and dad are the best of friends. My mom brags about my dad all the time, and he brags about her. This is what I’ve observed makes a happy marriage.

Next month, my parents will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. They’ve spent four decades of life together. I love hearing them tell stories of how they met, dated, and spent their early years of marriage. My dad was in the Air Force, and I was born on an Air Force base in Kansas City, Missouri. We moved around a few times, so I was a toddler in Texas a while before we moved to Georgia. (Just wanted y’all Texas friends to know that.)

Over the years, my parents’ friendship has deepened and weathered the storms that life sends through. They took the calling seriously to raise three children and make sure we were in church every Sunday. No matter how busy we were, Mom always had us sit down together for supper, and I enjoyed watching my parents interact with each other — like friends — and talk and laugh about their day. The TV was never on while we ate — and everybody pitched into the conversation. (Even when I was a snooty-hooty teenager and dinner interrupted my busy agenda of phone calls and fashion planning.)

So, to answer Blair’s meme, marriage is all about friendship — first of all in having a friendship with God though Jesus Christ so you have the perfect role model for relationships — and second of all, it’s a lifelong friendship that grows and changes and is an adventure.

I’m still learning about this, which is why I love reading women’s blogs who describe their happy marriages. To double the blessings of my life, God gave me a husband whose parents also celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary last year. So, they should be the ones writing about marriage! I’m still the quiet observer, writing things down with my soapy dishpan hands.

How do you stay friends with someone for an entire lifetime? Here’s what I see. Marriage is a living thing, like a plant, that grows and needs constant attention. We were reading a book with our kids the other day about seeds, and it showed one of those giant Redwood trees in California. The last line of the book said something like, “Can you believe this tall tree used to be a seed?”

On our wedding day, we’re like a seed, planted into the ground. Then through years of growth toward the “Son,” we become like a tree. (Psalm 119:105 says, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a LIGHT for my path.”). Our roots should be deep enough so we’ll weather various storms that pass through.

How do we cultivate that seed? From watching my parents, I’d say:

#1 Surround each other with love and grace, the same way God gives it to you.
#2 Work on your sense of humor — laugh about the crazy things life deals at you! Have a lot of inside jokes that only your family knows about.
#3 Keep finding creative ways to celebrate the happy events — and tell stories about them over and over.

I could write a ton more — but I know you’ve got more blogs to click into — so I’ll just say this: if you’re a parent, the best gift you can ever give your children is to cultivate the seed of marriage and show them what a lifelong friendship looks like. It’s more important than anything else. I can’t thank my parents enough for giving me four decades of love, laughter, and celebration worth writing about!

P.S. If you don’t have a friendship like this as a role model, you can learn so much from great books! The Bible is #1. But I highly recommend The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman. And if you feel like a pioneer in this parenting gig, I just finished reading Mary DeMuth’s inspiring book, Building the Christian Family You Never Had — it’s a wonderful resource!




February 18, 2006

Share the Love Award I visited a few new blogs over the weekend (met up with Sally at MomKori’s blog in Japan — that was fun!). I kept seeing this graphic on a few people’s sites. Never heard of it. But you know how we ladies are — I felt kind of left out, like everyone had been to a party but me. So I visited One Woman’s World blog and discovered this new blog award. Cool.

So, I’m reading along recognizing names — my Carnival of Beauty friends … Mind & Media friends … book-loving friends … And there’s me. Surprise. (Who did that?) Somebody nice nominated Mom 2 Mom Connection in the (#5) Best Site Design and (#6) Most Inspiring categories.

Well, thanks. Made my day. These awards are sponsored by One Woman’s World, and here’s what she says about them:

This blog competition is designed to encourage the widening of our reading world, and the fostering of community among women bloggers … The competition is about sharing the love, and honoring excellence. I, for one, am really excited about a lot of the new reads I’m finding!

If you’d like to vote (there are lots of familiar names in the list), go to the Share the Love Blog Awards site. You can vote until Monday, February 20th at 11 pm. Then she will close the polls and announce the five finalists in each category.

I’ve learned the purpose of these awards is to introduce people to new blogs. Last time I checked, there are over 28 millions blogs out there! How else are we going to find like-minded bloggers if we don’t get together every now and then? The other categories are Humor, Makes Me Want to Have Kids, Happiest Blog, Best Writing, Most Meetable in Real Life, Most Thought-Provoking, Best Discussion, Learn Something New Every Day, and Best Commenter.

I’ve discovered some hilarious new blogs — maybe one day I’ll learn how to write funny.

P.S. If you’re checking out my site design, then you’ll have to check out my designer’s portfolio, Lisa Sabin of E. Webscapes. All I did was spend six months agonizing over whether I should start a blog, then three more months of deciding what to call it and what I wanted it to look like, then two or three days of writing/deleting/rewriting my order form. Two weeks later, I’m up and running. Lisa’s always been quick to answer my questions (which have been many). She also designed Mind & Media’s blog and La Shawn Barber’s Corner, among hundreds more.

By: Heather Ivester in: Blogging | Permalink | Comments & Trackbacks (8)



I took this test entitled, “What language should you learn?” This was an interesting result. I know how to read and speak some Japanese, but not Chinese. The written languages have some similarities, so it might be something I could pick up someday. But Chinese is a tonal language — it seems really hard to me!

Yet it’s the language of about 1/5 of the world’s population, right? I’ve discovered that studying a language is truly the best way to understand the heart of a culture. I took German two years in high school, French two years in college, and have about four years of formal Japanese study. But I’ve forgotten so much — Use it or lose it, they say! It’s funny how well I can remember the songs we learned …

How about you? Do you speak or read any languages besides English? What’s your native tongue?


You Should Learn Chinese


Surprised? You shouldn’t be – Chinese is perfect for an ambitious person like you.
You’re a natural entrepreneur, and a billion people are waiting to do business with you!



February 17, 2006

A few of you have left comments that you’re learning to FLY or you have been for years. So, I got this GREAT idea — why don’t I compile a list of blogs from women like me who are also interested in FlyLady?

Do you have a blog where you talk about FlyLady? I’d like to visit whenever I need a fresh jolt of inspiration. Please leave me a comment, and I’ll work on compiling something to stay permanent in my sidebar.

We can encourage each other to stay on track with our routines — and offer plenty of grace and humor when life (and children!) get in the way of our perfectionism.

Where did I read this — somebody made a tape of a solid hour of rockin’ housecleaning music? The thought of 300,000 of us FlyBabies in our lace-up shoes and ostrich feather dusters — zipping around the house working and listening to music (with our timers ticking, of course) — just totally cracked me up! Send me some links! And maybe a blurb about why you love FlyLady or where we should look in your blog. (For example, if you have a Technorati tag or category somewhere so we’ll know where to look.)

Have a nice weekend. And remember that God loves you just the way you are — you’re not behind at all in His eyes!

P.S. This post will be ongoing — so anytime you happen to find it, you can add to it and I’ll update my permanent list in the sidebar.




February 16, 2006

Mary DeMuth\\\'s Home

We’re chatting with author Mary Demuth again in southern France, though today she’s invited us in for coffee in her lovely French home. If you missed the first part of our interview, you can read it here.

Thanks for joining us at the blogging Carnival yesterday. I’m still full from all that Comfort Food. Now we’re ready for something to read. You’ve recently published two new books for parents. Can you tell us a little about your first one, Ordinary Mom, Extraordinary God?

I wrote that book because I was tired of books written for Christian moms and women that were dumbed down and foofy. I wanted an intelligent devotional for moms, one that challenged them at their deepest levels both spiritually and intellectually. It’s written in conjunction with Hearts at Home ministries.

Foofy! Yes, we’re tired of foofy! But why should a mom want to read your book? Are you going to tell us what it’s like to have it all together and make those of us who are scrambling to get through a day feel guilty?

Yes, of course. Parenting should be all about guilt and how terrible we are at measuring up. (laughing) No, seriously. That book is about grace. About running to Jesus when we fail. About the beauty of the journey of parenthood. I pray it is a cup of cold water to moms who are worried and stressed and harried and guilt-ridden.

Sounds refreshing. And I love the title. I’m truly one of those ordinary moms realizing what an extraordinary God we serve. So, what about your latest book that just came out last month — Building the Christian Family You Never Had. It says it’s a “Practical Guide for Pioneer Parents.” Can you tell us what you mean by pioneer parent?

A pioneer parent is a person who grew up in a home she doesn’t want to duplicate. It’s for any parent who fears she’ll make the same mistakes her parents made. It’s for those of us who don’t exactly know what a Christian home looks like because we didn’t see it modeled.

I like the quote you used in the preface of the book from George Bernard Shaw: “If you cannot get rid of the family skeleton, you may as well make it dance.” Later, you say, “God is our Pioneer Parent, who dances the path before, behind, and beside us.” It seems like your attitude is that you can’t change the past, but you can start fresh with your own family. Is that true?

Yes, it’s true. But starting fresh does involve some pain. We must first look at our past, tell the truth about it, forgive our parents, and allow Jesus to heal us. Then we can start fresh. But healing precedes that new path.

What advice do you have for pioneer moms and dads who feel unsure about raising kids since they grew up in a dysfunctional family? Can you offer them any words of encouragement?

I hope so. This is what God has taught me — something spectacular actually: Our weakness in parenting — all those fears that we’ll duplicate the homes we were raised in — is actually a benefit. Because pioneer parents are keenly aware of our own inabilities, it puts us at an advantage. Because we’re well acquainted with our own lack, we are more apt to run to Jesus for help. So, the hope is, God can be strong in our weakness. Because we know we’re weak, we’re at an advantage, because God loves to work through that weakness.

Wow. That’s something I’m going to have to remember. You talk a lot about healing in this book, as you’ve had some emotional scars from your past. But you also give us ideas of fun things to move forward as a family. Can you tell us about some of your family celebrations that are unique?

We play ‘high low’ around the dinner table every night. We share one high and one low from the day. It’s an expected ritual. It helps us all focus on what happened during the day and also gives us a glimpse into our children’s lives. We also have a prayer blackboard where we list our prayer requests. It’s fun to watch God answer those prayers.

Those are great ideas! We’ll have to try the high/low thing around our table. In your book, you have a chapter called “A Funny Thing Happened While Raising My Kids.” Can you tell us how the role of laughter plays in building up a strong Christian family? What if we’re not comedians?

Laughter is key. Most pioneer parents grew up far too fast and have lost that child-like wonder at the world. I’m far too serious, but I’m learning to let my hair down. I’m certainly not a comedian. But my kids are. One of the things I do is write down all the funny things my kids say so we can remember them. Having fun with our kids is a natural offshoot of learning to take life less seriously.

I love the idea of a notebook — thanks for the reminder. What’s the funniest thing that’s happened to you since living in France?

It’s a long story, but you can read all about it in my blog.

Do you write every day? How do you balance your career with your family?

Yes, I write every day. I have a schedule. I usually write about 20-30 hours a week depending on my deadline. I try not to let my writing interfere with my children, as I write while they’re in school. It’s still hard for me, though, to pull myself away from the computer when I’m in the middle of a thought or idea. I’m learning.

You seem to have an interest in helping out new writers. Can you tell us a little about the newsletter you write every month? How can we sign up for it?

It’s called the RelevantProse Newsletter and comes in the inbox the first of every month. It’s usually about 8 pages long, full of practical writing advice and spiritual insights. I write about the business and craft of writing. You can sign up for it on my website.

And now, to wrap things up, can you tell us your best piece of advice on making our home Christ-centered?

Pray. Be authentic. Apologize to your children when you yell. Pray some more.

Wow. How inspiring! Thanks for sharing so many great ideas with us, Mary. Your books look like wonderful resources for parents. Au revoir.

Au revoir!

****************

If you have a minute, you simply must go read Mary’s hilarious story, The Boy Without a Costume. The ending really made me laugh! And if you love good women’s fiction, Mary has a new novel out called Watching the Tree Limbs.




February 15, 2006


Thanks for your response to my desperate plea for vegetables yesterday. Now I can offer you a well-rounded buffet with a feast of recipes from eleven bloggers and two friends of Mom 2 Mom (plus one of my most often-requested recipes. And another blogger’s link I couldn’t resist passing along.)

I really enjoyed serving as your hostess this week. Once again, the biggest thanks goes to Sallie at Two Talent Living for sponsoring the Carnival — out of 27 million blogs out there, she’s helped us find some like-minded friends.

If I’ve missed anyone, please email me or send me a comment — my server seems to be a bit overzealous lately in blocking some messages — so I hope I haven’t missed yours.

Well, I wish I could spiff up this place a little bit, set out a tablecloth, or something. Hope you enjoy the potluck!

Thank you, Lord, for lavishing your love upon us through fellowship with other women who enjoy writing online. Your grace is overwhelming. Help us to continue encouraging each other to shine our lights into the world through our words. Bless our food today — and give us the wisdom and energy we need to prepare good meals for our families. Amen.

In her entry, Food for Body & Soul, Iris at Sting My Heart reminds us, “Although food for the body is essential for living, we as Christians need to feed on a different kind of food.” You’ll enjoy her mouth-watering recipe for Philly Steak Sandwiches here.

What better way to share a recipe than through step-by-step photographs? That’s what Bethany at A Picturesque Life has done for us, sharing a recipe she loves making with her children. In her post, Monkeying Around and Making Monkey Bread, their smiling faces will inspire us all to try this with our own families.

From across the Atlantic in the south of France, Mary of Relevant Prose sends us her Tres Vite Cinnamon Rolls, which she enjoys making with her teenage daughter. And in case that’s not enough for us, she’s also included a whole page of links to her favorite recipes, which are sprinkled throughout her blog.

For those of us with busy evening schedules, Trish of Simplifying Motherhood sends us her kid-friendly Parmesan Chicken Sandwiches. Even though her husband’s baseball schedule is hectic, she still places a top priority on sitting down for nightly family suppers.

And just when we were about to run out of ideas of what to do with a package of cream cheese, Marla of Just Marla offers us nine delighful recipes in her Ode to Cream Cheese. In case you’re wondering, she says, “Yep, the pictures were taken by me of actual food I made and ate.” It looks like she’s on her way to making her own cookbook someday.

Although Blair of Scribblings by Blair claims she doesn’t have a knack for cooking, she does have an incredible gift of writing. Get out your hankies when you read how she found the perfect way to enjoy Chicken ‘n’ Biscuits with her husband in A Valentine Memory.

In honor of her grandmother who recently passed away, Carrie from Of Christian Women shares a recipe for Pistachio Jello Salad. In her post, The Love in Food, she writes, “My Grandmother was a very family-oriented person who enjoyed showing her love through keeping her family well-fed. Being at my Grandparents house was like a never-ending feast … You really could almost taste the love.”

In her post, No Comfort in Chocolate, Carmen of Full Contact Christ-Centric Living once again delights us with her wit and wisdom. After a bizarre, chocolate-provoked experience, she learned why she finds comfort in foods that build her body and give her energy while tasting great. She offers us gorgeous pictures of God-made fruit, along with a tantelizing recipe for Fruit and Kefir Smoothie — yum!

Now, in case we’re feeling overwhelmed by nightly dinner preparations, Carol of She Lives shares her secret for keeping her family fed without a lot of fuss. She Lives, but not to cook. In her post, She’s Not All She’s Crocked Up to Be, Carol gives us several easy, down-home recipes that will entice us to dust off our crockpots and simmer something Texan.

Patricia of Pollywog Creek Porch shares a recent article that says, “Research now suggests that calling a food a comfort food has less to do with its qualities than with its ability to trigger happy memories and feelings.” On that note, her mind is filled with happy memories of serving her family Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins in her post, Comfort Food.

In her post, Connoisseur…of Good Food, Deb of Mountain Musings offers us a mouth-watering casserole that will inspire us to whip out the shoepeg corn and green beans. She does offer us this warning: “Unfortunately, I have learned that this dish is probably not for husbands and sons…so just take it to an occasional gathering so you can be sure to enjoy it every now and then.” A potluck club special here.

And rounding up this delicious buffet, I’m bringing you a collection of favorites from friends of Mom 2 Mom Connection. Lou Alice shares her Southern hospitality with a creamy grits recipe that is delicious paired with baked salmon. Lisa will keep you busy enjoying recipes she’s collected over the years from her family and favorite restaurants, including Chicken Divan, Roast beef with New Potatoes and Carrots, Chicken Salad with Poppy Seed Dressing, Tossed Salad, Breakfast Casserole, Broccoli Salad, and Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.

I’ll also add in my recipe that brings me a ton of traffic from the search engines. Guess what most moms in the world are dishing up for their families? You got it — a new spin on good ol’ Macaroni and Cheese.

And I can’t let this Carnival go by without a link to one of my all-time favorite posts — I hope she doesn’t mind — it’s Sallie’s cache of homemade recipes from her classic post, My Quest to Eat at Home.

There you have it, ladies! A true Potluck Club. Let’s eat!