Do you think I can get away with doing a Monday Morning Mix-Up like Kelly the Kitchen Kop? Luckily, I know she’s too busy to have gotten a copyright on the phrase, so I think I’m safe. Imitation is surely the highest form of flattery in this case!

On Deadlines and Misses

First, I have bitten off more than I could chew. As usual.

I missed my own deadline for “To Soak or Not to Soak” on Friday, but I kind of inserted a touchpoint “how to soak, what, when and why” info post within the soaking grains recipe round-up that I wasn’t planning on. There just wasn’t enough juice left Thursday night to finish the big dog finale.

It is drafted; however, it will take a few hours of research combing and refining before it’s ready for human consumption.

Last night, I had a decision to make. Today was my self-set deadline to publish The Everything Beans Book, and I was a bit behind where I thought I needed to be, so I had a decision to make: push through and try to publish, after checking to see if my editor was still awake to help with final looks, or put it aside and post “To Soak or Not to Soak” today.

We’re at the point now where I must choose quality over speed, unlike so many companies in our culture. The Everything Beans Book deserves multiple indexes and a thorough final edit by multiple people. I think perhaps my estimations of timing for the various parts of book writing were off slightly because I’m basing them on what I remember of Healthy Snacks to Go last April, which is 45 pages.

The beans book is a whomping 95 pages! Holy crudbuckets, kids! The total is a surprise even to me, and I’m actually quite good at Math, for an English major Elementary teacher.

So it’s coming. Soon. Maybe even tomorrow. With deep discounts for early KS purchasers and freebies to boot!

On Conference Calls and Cheese

My husband handed down his old iPod shuffle after Christmas, and I finally got around to listening to the GNOWFGLINS eCourse first two conference calls just this week. I have to say, they are so much fun! For half an hour you can ask Wardeh of GNOWFGLINS anything you like, and I ended up learning about the milking habits of goats, others’ challenges with natural cleaners and buildup, Wardeh’s routines for keeping up with traditional foods preparation, and even a tip on mineral drops that I totally needed to revitalize my own water kefir grains!

The conference calls are available on the standard or premium plans, one of the neat incentives to move up the ladder from “basic.” This month’s is actually happening today, so don’t forget to attend or download the mp3 if you’re part of the class already. I plan to participate in March’s conference call, since my homemade yogurt tutorial video is next week’s lesson! The teaching is so amazing that no one will ever have any questions…but just in case, I thought it would be fun to participate. Hopefully no one asks anything hard!

It’s also the last day to get this month’s thank you video, available on the standard or premium plans. It’s called “Miracle Walk” and shows a new goat baby at the GNOWFGLINS household! Click here to register or learn more about the Fundamentals, Sourdough, or Cultured Dairy and Cheese eCourses, all available at the same time when you become a member.

Last Chance Giveaways!

Today is the final day for the Nutrimill grain mill and Nourished Kitchen eCourse giveaways. I might even offer one last bonus entry opportunity on Facebook today, because there was one unclaimed last week on Twitter. There’s also one on Facebook from last week that rewarded the 7th correct answer, and although there are a lot of answers, only FOUR included the keyword I’m looking for correctly. You can still try your hand!

A Really Fun Opportunity

Since the Blissdom conference in late January, where I learned a voluminous amount of information about the craft of blogging, I’ve been doing some really creative stuff behind the scenes here. One of them will begin this week, and I’m really excited about it!

I’m working on a two-part series with Trilight Health, and to kick it off they’re going to give FIVE READERS a chance to review a free product! You get to pretend you’re as crazy as me, mwahahahahaha…. The first five entries in Thursday’s $100 giveaway for free product at Trilight Health will receive their choice from the best sellers list in exchange for writing a paragraph review at KS in about a month. It’s a way for them to capture word-of-mouth style advertising, one mom to another, and for you to have some fun reviewing a free product (which hopefully will be as helpful as it will be fun).

Here’s how I’m going to swing it: you can head over to the best sellers list if you want to get a jump on your choice so you’re super fast when the giveaway posts on Thursday. What time Thursday? I’m going to leak the exact posting time this Wednesday on my Facebook page. Why there? One of my three major blogging goals this year is to interact more on Facebook – there are 500 million people on Facebook, so that’s where I need to go to connect with readers.

If you aren’t following on FB yet, get on over there and click that ol’ “like” button, you hear? I’m committed to being more active, more fun, and more informative, updating at least once a day beyond just the KS post for the day. I’ve been sharing about how recipes have been going in the kitchen, other great articles I read around the blogosphere, and last week we had a hilarious discussion about pregnancy food aversions and cravings. It’s an extension of what happens here, to be sure, but much less formal and more fun. Come join the conversation!

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I’d love to see more of you!  Sign up for a free email subscription or grab my reader feed. You can also follow me on Twitter, get KS for Kindle, or see my Facebook Fan Page.

If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money.  If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

Disclosure: I am a partner with GNOWFGLINS, so I do earn a portion of payments that originate at KS. Trilight Health is sponsoring the two-part series as an advertising campaign. See my full disclosure statement here.