Today's Audible Daily Deal is Eat That Frog by Brian Tracey. The unabridged audiobook (today – 5/31 – only) is .99c. This book has maaaaaany five-star reviews, but if you're familiar with the basic premise (that you should get the task you're most dreading done first), this might be a bit redundant. Other reviews say that as a refresher in managing tasks and organizing yourself, the audiobook is a great tool. (Huh huh. I said “tool.”)
There's an old saying: if you eat a live frog first thing each morning, you'll have the satisfaction of knowing that it's probably the worst thing you'll do all day.
Using “eat that frog” as a metaphor for tackling the most challenging task of your day, the one you are most likely to procrastinate on, but also the one that might have the greatest positive impact on your life, Eat That Frog! shows you how to zero in on these critical tasks and organize your day.
Five-Plant Gardens: 52 Ways to Grow a Perennial Garden with Just Five Plants by Nancy J. Ondra is $2.51/$2.99 digitally right now. The reviews are limited, though a reader named Naomi says that the organization of the content is very useful, and the instructions are clear, but that the images are illlustrations instead of photographs. If you're struggling with a perennial garden (I love perennials and I am buying the heck out of this book), this might help you a lot.
Selecting perennial plants can be overwhelming – there are hundreds of choices, and it's difficult to know when your plants will bloom, whether they'll thrive in sunny or shady spots, and which ones will look well together.
In “Five-Plant Gardens, ” Nancy Ondra eliminates the guesswork and the stress, offering 52 garden plans that each use only five plants! These plans are simple, inexpensive, and sure to look beautiful all season long.
They are grouped according to whether they grow best in sun, partial shade, or full shade, and each one includes an illustrated planting plan, a shopping list with brief plant descriptions, information on what to expect as the planting matures, and tips on customizing the plan for different sites and climates.
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
Show Me a Story: 40 Craft Projects and Activities to Spark Children's Storytelling by Emily K. Neuburger is $2.99. This is nonfiction (obviously) about different craft projects that allow children to improvise and create a story using the projects. This would be a great gift for a teacher, or for someone who needs some summer activities. If you have a writer in your family, this might be a LOT of fun, too.
Children love to make up stories, and these 40 creative projects and activities encourage them to free their storytelling instincts.
Younger children will love making story stones and a storytelling jar and then using them to create stories of their own, while older kids will enjoy word grab bags, story walks, and journaling exercises.
For everyone ages 5 to 12, whatever their reading level, this book has everything needed to spark an infinite number of child-created stories.
Goodreads | Amazon | BN | Kobo
This is a bit off the usual selection of Things On Sale, so forgive me if this is utterly not interesting for you.
This appeared in my affiliate inbox in one of the programs I use, and I thought it sounded like a good deal – and a good teacher gift, too.
Special offer: Subscribe to Food & Wine for $1 an issue.
Also: Subscribe to Travel + Leisure for just $1 an issue.
At Amazon, for example, a year is $20, but with this offer, a year is only $12.
Note: These subscriptions do come with auto-renewal, but according to the fine (or in this case, grey) print, you can cancel any time. What I usually do when trying a new magazine deal that has auto-renew is make an appointment on my calendar in 2 months that asks, “Do you like {magazine name}?” with the link to cancel in the description. Then, if I'm not digging it, I can cancel easily.
Why on earth would you limit yourself to five perennials? I like massing as much as the next person, but that just seems so sad.
If you’re gardening in the northeast, those plants are: rhododendron, preferably insipid purple and right up on the typically alkaline foundation line, plus yews and holly, hosta, day lilies if there’s a sunny spot, vinca…I’ve already gone over.
Yeah, I like a lot of perennials too. I’m working my way up to massing, by planting 3 of things. I like to use plants native to my region, that attract pollinators and hummingbirds. Of course, I’ve sort-of involuntarily massed by planting a few bee balm and sunflowers who have reproduced like bunnies.
I also shop by ‘what aren’t the deer likely to eat down to the ground the day after planting’ (hint: deer really, really like daylilies and so do rabbits)
@Miranda The wildlife is welcome to the day lilies, I wish they’d get to work and clear out more of them. It’s when they do things like spend the winter chewing up and spitting out 243 of the 275 allium bulbs that I put in one particularly hellacious afternoon that the war is on.
The advantage to not having a garden is that I don’t have any of these problems now, but then again, I don’t have a garden either, so…
Aruncus is supposed to be deer resistent, for whatever *that’s* worth, and I’ve never planted anything, even monarda and buddleia, that the bees liked more.
The Aruncus is very pretty. My only issue is that it likes water, and I’m in NC, which likes to go dry and hot in the summer. Maybe a couple of them in a planter.
Our building has five sidewalk “gardens” that need adopting, I am sorely tempted to get this book as so many plants just won’t work. I want to get my hands dirty, although it also involves cleaning out cigarette butts, coffee cups and dog poop (WHO DOES THAT THEY ARE ELEVATED GARDENS IS YOUR DOG A MOOSE). Still this could be just what I needed, as my windowsill won’t contain a single plant more.
PSA: When I clicked on the 12-month subscription to both magazines, it gave me the option to upgrade to 24 months for $18, or $0.75 per issue. So, you know, click on the 12-month button first to maybe save an extra $12, if you want to get 2-year subscriptions.
You know… it’s been 6 weeks since the last Help a Bitch Out. I love that segment! You should do it weekly!