The Perfect Brownie

This was truly a work of art. I am NOT one to make a good pan of brownies. I have tried and tried, but they never turn out right. All these years though, I have been using box mixes. Well, I decided to search the Internet for a perfect recipe and after trying it, I did indeed find it! I wish I could give the link to the site, but I do not remember. The lady stated that she had been making the recipe for years and that she and her mother used to watch a cooking show in the 1970's with a certain woman. The would write the recipes down that she would give. She assumed that everyone knew this lady, however years later she was to find that they didn't because it was a local channel they watched. The search for the perfect brownie started because I needed to bake something for a church dinner. Well, this will be a keeper for many years to come.

The Perfect Brownie

1 cup butter softened (I used margarine)

2 cups sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup cocoa

2 cups all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350. With a mixer cream sugar and butter. Add vanilla and eggs and use mixer to blend. Last add cocoa and flour by mixing with a spoon. I did use a mixer, however I used it only until it was blended. You can add nuts, etc. by just stirring them in with a spoon. Bake for 18-20 minutes in 2 8x8 pans. It did take mine about 25 minutes to bake.

FREE ENTERTAINMENT

When you have to be in church all day, it doesn't take much to occupy a child during a free moment. There were escalators at the Sommet Center in Nashville where our church's assembly was held and our kiddos had great time on them. At first Melanie was a little frightened, but it wasn't long until she warmed up to the idea of a free ride on moving steps! We didn't have to go far or spend any money for them to have a good time. We did, however, have to make sure they weren't in any one's way which wasn't too much of a problem. We also had to encourage a little girl to go with one of the leaders to go find her parents! I don't know if she had wandered away from them or what, but she would rather be playing on the escalator, so I guess our kids weren't the only ones enjoying the ride. So the next time you are near an escalator be on the look out because you may see our family enjoying the free entertainment and we will try not to get in your way (maybe encourage you to take time and slow down a little to have fun with us)! By the way, the little girl that was lost did get back with her family.

ANOTHER GIVEAWAY

A homeschool mom is giving away crocheted wash cloths. She has great items listed on her etsy site. Visit her blog here to enter for her drawing. Who knows, you might when something! Well, I guess one good thing about me sitting at this computer all day is being able to put my name in the hat for some free items when there are no calls coming in. :-)

I have sat here all day

Don't get me wrong, I thank the Lord for this job I have. I work for a legitimate company that contracts out jobs. The bottom line is that I have to sit here at this desk on the computer and phone with a headset to my ear. I really do like the job and I am able to schedule hours when I need to. Nobody tells me I have to work a certain schedule. I have been doing this for almost 1 year now, but I would only work very few hours per week. I have actually worked no hours during the week before. Well, this week I scheduled myself 40 HOURS since Phil is still in the process of finding his job. You know God has the job already lined up, we are just having to wait on the phone call from the company telling him when he can start. Getting back to what I was saying....I have sat here for 6 hours in this same spot. I did get a 10 min. break and I did run to the potty a couple of times. IT JUST AINT RIGHT!!!! I spoke to Phil about his season of homeschooling earlier and he said he enjoys teaching the kids, but when he gets done he is just ready to sit down because he is TIRED!!! THANK YOU!!!! I don't feel bad now because that is exactly what I want to do, of course that is usually not the option. Then it's time for gymnastics or football or time to cook supper or something else. He stated it didn't feel right to him either by him schooling the kids. DO you want to know why? Because he has been ordered by God to work and I have been ordered by God to school the kids. It's really a little funny. You would think we would be worried about the money.......nooooo we are tired of the roles being reversed and it has only been just a few days!!! There will definitely be some celebrating in this house when things are back to "normal".

I have a praise report. Several of the men at our church do not have jobs. We had special prayer for one lady and her husband Sunday and we believed that the Lord was going give him a job. She called me to let me know he has a job! He builds houses, so we are going to keep praying that he will keep building one right after another. God is good. We are still praying for several others to get jobs at our church and for our friends. GOD IS GOING TO SUPPLY THOSE NEEDS!

On to other happenings. I wanted to let everyone know that I have been putting my name in the hat for several drawings that different ladies do on their blogs and guess what?

I WON SOMETHING!!!!!

You many be asking what did she win? Who cares, I won something! I have never won many things in my life. Ok I am excited about what it is. It is a new movie called, Frank. Go HERE to check it out and go HERE to visit the blog where I signed up for it. Thanks so much Laura.

Deals matched with Aug.24 coupons

I am posting this with the understanding that to get the price I have listed you have to use the product's coupon from this Sunday (Aug24).

Wal Mart

Lysol Kitchen cleaner 22oz $1.00
Meow Mix Dry food (Buy 4) $.21
Meow Mix treast $.22
Redi Whip $1.48
Ronzoni Smart Taste Pasta $.38
Softsoap $.62

CVS
B1G1 360 toothbrush use 2 coupons and pay $1.13 each
B1G1 Colgate toothpaste use 2 coupons and pay $.75 each
Rimmel mascara 2 coupons $.75
Revlon 2 coupons price range from $2.00- and up
Softsoap $.64

Wal-Greens
softsoap $.64

Another Cool Blog

This mama homeschools her 6 daughters and has time to sew! Check her site out here and you can enter yourself in the drawing she has going for some free items.

A Nice Give Away

I stumbled across some good giveaways lately and wanted to post one right now. She is giving away over $120.00 worth of things! Cool blog too! Click here to check it out.

Chicken Deal

Anybody want some chicken? Bilo has the fast fixin' chicken on sale B1G1 free. The bags are $6.99, so they ring up $3.50. Go here and sign up then you can print 5 $1.00 coupons. You will end up getting the bag for $2.50 each. I got the chicken strips and they are 2lb 4 oz each. Great deal! They also have to popcorn chicken and the chicken nuggets. The sale ends next Tuesday, so go get you some chicken!

I haven't really seen many more deals this week that was worth doing. Maybe I will post something GREAT next week! I was able to get 9 packs of free cat treats with coupons at Wal-Mart and we will go see our aunt and visit her cat. My trip to Wal-Mart was over $71.00, but when I got finished using coupons the bill was a little over $30. Most of it was the free coupons for weiners, cheese, peanuts, crystal light, dog food, and birthday party stuff for Madison.

A TRIP AROUND THE WORLD

Bolivia Venezuela
Panama
Singapore

Philippines Belarus
Jamaica
Thailand
Brazil
Bolivia touched my heart the most. They could not speak English, but the lady on the right was the interpreter. I ended up going to the booth 3 times. The lady pictured and other ladies in their congregation crocheted finger puppets and purses. They had other things at the booth too that was hand made. It was wonderful to be able to get something from the country that was actually made there, especially by ladies in their church.

Venezuela also had hand made items. I actually was able to use some of the Spanish that I had learned in the kid's class last year to figure out that on the items it stated to pray for certain families. We ended up with one of those too.

Singapore was an awesome trip (right next to the booth we helped with). And this man (far left) is working hard to get the word out about Jesus in his country. He has a great sense of humor and just very nice to be around. It's like we have known him all our lives.

Philippines was awesome. This overseer chatted with us and we also have a picture of his family so that we can be in prayer for them and the work in the Philippines. This stop was dear to me because Phil's dad lives in this country. I believe he stated there were over 30 churches in the Philippines.

Belarus-we were able to get money from this country.

Brazil-this was a nice stop, however we couldn't communicate. We were able to figure out that a pen that had a pull out calendar on it cost $2.00 and Madison bought it. Later we found out there was printing on it that was Portuguese....wonder what is says? We did figure out it had the name of our church on it.

Well, there were many many other booths that we visited. I wanted to post a few of our stops. It was worth the trip for sure. To meet our brothers and sisters in the Lord who share the gospel everywhere and live for Jesus just like we do. God is good!

MISSION ENCOUNTER ASSEMBLY 2008

We had the BEST time at the assembly! We stayed a full week, but the highlight and the reason for it all was to go to the mission encounter. The mission encounter was on Thursday and it had many, many, booths set up from different countries. We got to speak to many people (needed a translator at times) from around the world! I have many pics I will post, but I wanted to share this video of Sister Zebua. She and her husband are from Indonesia. My parent's church sends money to them for their country to help spread the gospel. They are also the overseer for Malaysia and Myanmar. My mom and I were able to assist the Zebua's with their booth and as a thank you gift I received a dress (see video). Sister Zebua is wearing a blouse that is made the same. It is called Batik. (pronounced 'Bah-Teak') is a technique used to dye fabrics. Batiking is a relatively straightforward process that often produces beautiful results.
First, melted wax is applied to the fabric in the areas that are to be free of dye. There are various methods used to apply the liquid wax, but brushing or directly pouring the wax are the most common. Once the molten wax cools, it hardens and penetrates into the fabric. Next the fabric is soaked in dye. The wax prevents dye from penetrating onto the fabric and therefore keeps those areas of fabric in their original color.
To remove the wax after the dyeing process, a solvent can be used. Alternatively, the hardened wax can be pressed out with an iron; the hot surface melts the wax it is pressed through the fabric. If a multiple-colored design is desired, the process is repeated for each color.
Many fabrics can be used for batiking, but plain, light colored cotton seems to work best. Cracks in the wax allow thin lines of dye to penetrate through to the fabric which gives batik its characteristic appearance. I was soooo happy to receive this because it was made in Indonesia and it's something different. I will definitely wear it again. The video is of Sis. Zebua learning our slang southern language. She never did really get the part where I was trying to get her to take the "ing" off and use "in'". She kept saying, "no" and laughing. It was hilarious. I believe she KNEW it wasn't the correct way to use the english language. We did see her another day and when we were walking off she said," see y'all later like she had been doing it her whole life. We love this couple dearly. Be in prayer for them and their amazing work for the Lord.

DEALS

WAL-Greens

buy two johnson and johnson products and receive $3.00 in register rewards to use your next trip. This is like wal-Greens money
All smart and mighty Use 2 $.50 coupons and get back $2.00 register rewards
bic pens are free with coupons from last weeks paper
Lysol toilet bowl B1G1 free Use 2 $.50 coupons I think it ends up being $.89
Suavital fabric softner B1G1 I think there are coupons out for this, but without coupons $1.39 each

CVS

deals galore on the candy
children's advil is free with ECBS ( monthly deal)
Bic Soleil razor and cartridge $2.99 after using $2.00 coupon
Colgate B1G1 free $1.15 after using 2 $.50 coupons
Covergirl lip color B1G1 Use coupons from last week and get a good deal on these
Reach floss B1G1 free $.90 each
Soft and Dri B1G1 and there are coupons out for this.

Well, I won't be doing any deals this week ( don't see much I am interested in anyway). I will be in church and I am excited to be going. On Thursday we will be going to the mission encounter. This is where missionaries from around the world will be set up in different booths. We will be able to go around and meet the people and have the opportunity to buy little trinkets from their country. The Zebua family, from Indonesia, will be there and we are going to get to assist them with their booth. Our whole family is very excited about this! My mom has gotten up the docorations. I hope to post pictures once we get back. Keep us in your prayers!

A NICE SURPRISE

My total for this was $21.00 and some change, however I was really surprised when a coupon printed out after the transaction at Bi-Lo for a $10.00 gas card! If you buy 8 Kelloggs products, a coupon (Catalina) will print and then you complete the form, send it in, and they will send you the gas card. The deal ends on August 12 and it also must be postmarked by then also. What makes this even better is that there was a rebate form in last week's inserts (the one that has the Kelloggs coupons in it). The rebate is that if you buy 10 products of certain things you will get a rebate of $10.00. This can be a money maker if you buy certain Kelloggs products that are on sale at Bi-Lo and use your coupons. You end up getting the $10.00 gas card and $10.00 rebate. The way my deal worked out is that I made about $5.00 by buying the certain items. The peanut butter and corn was not part of the deal...ha. The thing about this is that I don't let the kids eat pop tarts hardly at all and I don't let them eat alot of cereal with loads of sugar. I will give the pop tarts away and keep the cereal, but it will last a very long time. The cheese crackers are for our trip tomorrow. I did get a good deal on the peanut butter though. I had .55 cent coupons that doubled so I paid .90 cents each for the PB. The corn is for more corn salsa, I CAN NOT get enough of that stuff. We finally have tons of tomatoes off our vines and I think I have made the corn salsa 4 times.

Well, I do have deals for CVS and Wal-Greens I will post them later today hopefully.

GOD'S WILL

My husband lost his job today. It's easy to have faith for someone else when they are going through trials, but it seems to be a little tougher when it happens to you. I sometimes wonder how I will react when "bad" things happen. Well, through it all God is still the owner of everything. It's not things, people, or jobs that provide for us. God does the providing through certain things. I know God will provide for us and I want us to continue to be in the center of His will. I want to share 2 scriptures that I come across that have just really hit me strong.

Psalm 34:10 Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing

Psalm 37:5 Commit your way to the Lord, trust also in Him, and He shall bring it to pass

We are at peace and I thank for Lord for it.

Well, this gives me the opportunity to really seek those deals out now, huh? I am very thankful for our stockpile at least we don't have to worry about hygiene products, condiments, school supplies,cereal, or snacks right now! I will definitely make our dollars scream now and I might not be in the road as much.

....and the winner is....

Marion Newton.

Thanks to all who donated money for the Zebua's and Atlas' family. Marion will be receiving the basket full of hygiene products!

This Week's Deals

WAL-GREENS
Kellogg's Cereal 4/10 RR $5.00 it's like paying 4/5 There are coupons that you can use from this week's inserts that will bring the price down further.

Buy $10.00 worth of Select Kellogg's items and receive $5.00 in Register Rewards. This is separate from the above deal and coupons were in the inserts yesterday that will bring the price down further too.

highlighters $.09 with in store coupon
10 pack pens $.09 with in store coupon
24 pack water $3.99 with in store coupon
10 pack pencils $.09 with in store coupon

There are alot more school supply deals in the paper. It would be worth it to browse the paper to see if you need any of the items.


Glade Fabric and Air Odor Eliminator sale price $2.99 easy saver coupon (separate monthly book in store) $1.50 and use the printable coupon from here $.01 overage

Glade candles on sale $1.99 $1.00 rebate from easy saver book. There are coupons from previous weeks that would make this item free.

Free roll of film developed Wednesday only with coupon from weekly sale paper.

Ink refills aer 25% off this week. Black $7.50 Color $11.25


CVS
Dawn $.88 coupons from this week paper $.50 Final Price $.38
Covergirl Buy 1 Get 1 Free coupons from this week paper B1G1 free. Makes for free make-up
Revlon B1G1 Free there are Revlon coupons also.
Folgers 2 pack (26 oz) $6.99 ECB $3.00 $3.99 after ECBs. Coupons from this week paper make it even cheaper.
Pert shampoo and conditioner and Sure deodorant B1G1 free. Coupons from this week should make it free or almost free.
Colgate toothpaste $2.98 ECB $2.00 $.99 after ECBs There are Colgate coupons out that you can use here

Crest toothpaste $2.49 $1.50 ECBs $.99 after ECBs Coupons from this weeks paper should make it free.

Lots of school supplies on sale and don't forget the August Extra Value Book is avalable. You can get free Children's Advil this month. Limit 1. I plan on doing this deal!


RITE-AID
I shop Rite Aid for the rebate program. You sign up on their website and any thing you buy that has a rebate for it all you do is log in to your acct. and type in the needed information from the register receipt. At the end of the month, you can request your check or even before then. They send you one check for everything you have bought that generated a rebate within 2-3 weeks. The following items end up being free after rebate this week:
2 pack renu multipurpose solution

Olay skin cleanser
Revlon nail enamel
Charles Worthington Results Hair Care
Clairol Nice N Easy Hair Color
Light Bulbs
Acne Treatment
Gillette Fusion or Fusion Power Razor free when you use $4.00 coupon from this weeks paper
Gillette Men's Shampoo free when you use $1.00 coupon from this weeks paper

Lots of school supplies on sale

There are many more things on sale in these stores, I am just posting things that really stand out and this does not mean I will be doing all these deals either!