Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Best Grocery Deals in Phoenix Area

I just received the sales ads and there are some good deals this week. Look for good deals on fish over the next month or so (due to Lent).

Albertsons:
Boneless, skinless chicken breast $1.67/lb
3 lb bag of Clementine Tangerines 2 for $5.00
Milk $1.57/gal.
Kellogg's Cereal or Pop-Tarts 3 for $5.00
Frozen Food Sale 10-50% off (I don't know if these are good prices since I never buy them:-)

Basha's:
They have some $1.00 off coupons in their ad that may be good value (especially if you can combine with some other coupons you have).
Assorted Pork Chops - value pack $0.88/lb
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts Buy 1, Get 2 FREE
Asparagus $0.97/lb
Russet Potatoes $0.97/4 lb bag
Milk $1.57/gal.
General Mills Cereal or Granola Bars $1.50 each with coupon and buy 4 (combine with another coupon for a really great deal!)
Starkist Chunk Light Tuna $0.59
Butter $1.99/lb
Half and Half 32 oz. $1.99
Duncan Hines Brownie Mix 2/$3.00
Flour 5 lb bag 2/$3.00
Sugar 4 lb bag 2/$3.00

Food City:
Tilapia Fillets $1.99/lb
X-Large Eggs - 20 count $1.88
Lentils 1 lb bag 2/$1.00
Sour Cream 16 oz. $0.99
Navel Oranges or Tangerines $0.59/lb
Cilantro 4/$1.00
Lemons 2 lbs./$1.00
Green Cabbage 3 lbs./$0.99
Radishes or Green Onions 3/$0.99

Fresh & Easy:
Whole Frying Chicken (limit 4) $0.67/lb
Boneless Beef Chuck Roast $1.99/lb

Fry's:
Great $1.00 deals this week!!!
6-8 oz Cheese (shredded or bar) $1.00
Pineapples (first 4) $1.00
Fresh Mangoes $1.00
Hot Cocoa Mix $1.00
Angel soft Bath Tissue 4 rolls $1.00
Sunny D Punch 64 oz. $1.00
Cottage Cheese, Sour Cream or Dip 16 oz $1.00
Kleenex Tissue 110 ct. $1.00
Honeysuckle Turkey Breast bone-in frozen (2) $1.00/lb
Boneless Beef Chuck Roast $1.97/lb
Chicken of the Sea Tuna 2/$1.00
Yoplait Yogurt 2/$1.00
Kellogg's Cereal 2/$5.00

Safeway:
Clementines 5 lb box $3.88
With $10 purchase:
Free 2-liter Pepsi or Lucerne Butter $0.99/lb or Kellogg's Frosted Mini Wheats $0.99
48 hour Sale Saturday and Sunday:
Fuji Apples $0.98/lb
Select Harvest Soup $0.88
Lucerne Large Eggs $0.97/dozen (limit 2)
$10 off $50 purchase coupon good 2/25-2/28
10 items for $10 mix and match (some good buys here)
Frozen Food - spend $25 and get $10 reward coupon (some good buys)

Sprouts:
Cantaloupes $0.99/each
Roma Tomatoes $0.67/lb
Red Seedless Grapes $0.99/lb
Red, Green or Romaine Lettuce $0.88
Broccoli or Cauliflower $0.88/lb
Hass Avocados $0.88/each
Monterrey Jack Cheese $1.99/lb
(we have been LOVING these cheese specials each week!!!!)
Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts $1.88/lb
Navel Oranges $0.59/lb
Rolled Oats in bulk 2 lbs/$1.00 (GREAT PRICE!!)

I am sure there are more good deals, but these are the ones that caught my eye! If you can take a few minutes to peruse the ads before you go shopping, you will find yourself saving a bundle!!

Have a wonderful shopping trip this week!

Deeper Roots Bible Curriculum for Middle School


I have recommended and used several different devotionals for short term missions from Deeper Root Publications in the past and knew that they had great products. I have been interested in their homeschool Bible Curriculum for quite a while, but was hesitant to purchase since I didn't know if it would be a good fit for our style of homeschooling. So when presented with the opportunity to review their Middle School Bible Curriculum, I was very excited to receive this and try it out!

First I would like to give you a little information about Deeper Roots Publications. Howard and Bonnie Lisech have spent time on the foreign mission field, as well as much time training and working with short term missions teams. Deeper Roots Publications grew out of their heart to provide material to help those preparing for the mission field, but even more importantly, deal with the issues of returning to their own culture. Having just returned to the U.S. after almost 6 years in Mexico, I can certainly relate to the need they are addressing. Having also homeschooled several of their children, they saw the need for a good, Biblically-based Bible curriculum.

After having the opportunity to use and review "Discovering Who I Am In Christ" which is for 7th - 9th grades, I am very impressed with the quality of this curriculum. And I very much appreciate the missions-mindedness that is incorporated in all of their products. This curriculum is laid out for ease of use for both the teacher and the student. The Middle School curriculum consists of four different volumes/studies in the Discovery Series. They are Discovering Our Amazing God, Discovering Who I Am In Christ, Discovering Christlike Habits, and Discovering a Christlike Character. There is a Teacher's Guide ($28.95) for each, which provides all the instructions, ideas and information that you, as teacher, will need to use this curriculum. The Student Workbook ($19.95) provides the lesson, memory verses, questions with space to write their answers, as well as Reflections pages for the student to write their thoughts and notes. Each section contains information about unreached people groups and prayer focus. It has engaging artwork, maps, photos, etc. which make the pages fun to look at and interesting. If you have a student that is still not comfortable with alot of writing, you can answer the questions orally and work through this together. It is a great foundational Bible study that would benefit every family.

They also have Bible curriculum for younger children called "Firm Foundations: Creation to Christ Children's Edition" which follows a chronological study of the Bible. It includes maps, a timeline and posters to make it more appealling to children.

Their high school Bible curriculum, "Rooted and Grounded (A Guide for Spiritual Growth)", is a one-year senior high course that helps students move from Biblical knowledge to spiritual application of these truths and concepts. The Teacher's Guide is $39.50 and the Student Workbook is $23.95. There is also a Unit Tests and Answers booklet for $3.95.

And if you are planning now or in the future to take a short-term missions trip, please consider using their short-term missions devotionals. They have Pre-Field, On-Field and Reentry resources and devotionals. We have recommended them for our interns when they came and stayed with us and I believe this truly helped them to make the most of their time with us as well as "re-enter" their life in the U.S. with less stress and culture shock.

Deeper Roots Publications offers free samples of their curriculum, so please don't hesitate to try them out and see if their products would meet the need in your homeschool family. If you would like to have a missions emphasis in your home, these products will be a great help with this and provide many opportunities to discuss missions and unreached people groups as you and your children study together.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Best Grocery Deals in Phoenix Area

I am going to start a new weekly column here that will highlight what I find to be the best grocery deals for the week in the Phoenix area. Some of them may also apply to those living in other areas of the country (if you have the same grocery store), but mostly they are for those local to this area. The reason I have decided to do this is that I have a number of friends who I send out a weekly email on Wednesdays to with this information, and I figured since I was already compiling the list, I might as well share it just in case there are others in the area that might benefit as well.

I will most often post this on Wednesdays since that is when the sales ads usually arrive. Most of our area sales run from Wednesday through Tuesday, but a few are Monday through Sunday or Sunday through Saturday. I will try to make note of that for each store.

Also, you will want to note that I am NOT including all specials or sales. I am only including those items that I have found that are truly a good deal and most of them will not include processed food items since I don't buy them and therefore wouldn't know if they were a good deal or not:-)

With all that preliminary said and done, here is this weeks best deals:

Albertsons (Feb 18 - 24)
Bottom Round Roast $1.88/lb
Red Seedless Grapes $0.77/lb
Broccoli $0.77/lb
Large Eggs - 18 count (limit 2) 2 for $3.00
Albertsons 2 lb chunk cheese $5.99
They also have a bunch of Buy 10, save $$ - some of these are good deals, too, so check them out.

Bashas (Feb. 18 -24)
Sanderson Farms Whole Fryers (limit 2) $0.67/lb
London Broil (limit 2) $1.87/lb
Milk (limit 2) $1.58/gal
Angel Soft Bath Tissue 4 pack (limit 3) $0.88
Brawny Paper Towels (limit 3) $0.88
Keebler, Kellogg's or Sunshine Crackers 50% off

Food City (Feb.16-22)
Chicken Leg Quarters (10 lb. bag) $0.39/lb
Food Club Long Grain Rice 2 lb bag $0.99/lb
Green Cabbage 3 lbs./$0.99
Large Tomatoes 3 lbs./$0.99
Avocados 2/$1.00
Maruchan Ramen Noodles 7/$1.00
Jalapenos $0.59/lb
Navel Oranges $0.59/lb
Lemons $0.69/lb
Gala Apples $0.79/lb
Red Bell Peppers 3/$0.99
White Onions 2 lbs/$1.00

Fresh & Easy (Feb. 18 - Mar 3)
Boneless Beef Chuck Roast $1.99/lb
Whole Frying Chicken $0.67/lb
Mild Cheddar, Monterey Jack or Colby Jack Cheese $2.50/lb

Fry's (Feb. 18 - 24)
Skinless, Boneless Chicken Breast $1.67/lb
Boneless Beef Bottom Round Roast B1G1Free
California Cuties (Clementines) 3 lb bag $2.77
1/2 gallon milk $0.88
General Mills Cereal $1.47
Lay's Potato Chips B1G1Free

SafeWay (Feb. 18-24)
Lucerne Milk $1.57/gal
32 oz. Gatorade $0.69
Honeysuckle White Turkey Breast (bone-in) $0.99/lb
Bar S Smoked Sausage Links - 3 lbs $0.99/lb or $2.97
Baby Peeled Carrots 1 lb bag $0.99
Ragu Pasta Sauce $0.99
Red Seedless Grapes $0.68/lb
Navel Oranges $0.68/lb
Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts $1.98/lb
93% lean Ground Beef $1.97/lb ($1.78 at Mesa, Main Street location)
73% lean Ground Beef $1.47/lb

Sprouts (Feb. 18 - 25 double sales on Weds)
Strawberries 2 lbs/$3.00
Navel Oranges 2 lbs/$1.00
Hot House Tomatoes $0.67/lb
Red or Golden Delicious Apples $0.77/lb
Mild Cheddar Cheese $1.99/lb

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

A Very Crafty Necklace

A few weeks ago, my daughter and I make some beads with Sculpey Clay as part of the unit study we are doing about the Powhatan Indians. We experimented with using the pasta machine and different colors of clay. It was a lot of fun and I ended up with a fantastic necklace that I really enjoy wearing. Go homeschooling!!

A Really Nice Birthday!


Today was my birthday and I just wanted to share what my family did for me. First, my lovely dd made (with a little assistance) an incredible coconut cake completely from scratch (we started with 2 whole coconuts) using Alton Brown's recipe from Good Eats! It is SO delicious - I think I will make myself sick eating all this deliciousness!!

My hubby gave me a really cute case/tote for my laptop,and my son gave me fantastic headphones so I can listen/watch things on my laptop. We went out for breakfast at Denny's (you get a free breakfast on your birthday!!) since my hubby had to work, and then we are going to eat cake and watch "Fireproof" when he comes home tonight. All in all, I think it has been a very nice day! And my family is so great to me!!

Tuesday, February 03, 2009

Birthday Gifts Galore!!

Happy Birthday to me!! Well, not actually until next week, but today I began receiving all my birthday gifts from restaurants! That's right, I can eat all week for free with my free meals from these restaurants! I signed up for these all last fall and today I began receiving them via email. Here are my favorites:
Black Angus (free steak dinner with purchase of an entree - up to $18.99 value!)
LoneStar Steakhouse (Free entree of up to $15.00)
Red Robin (free gourmet Burger of your choice)
Mimi's Cafe ($10 off $20 or more purchase and you'll receive a free breakfast for joining)
Cold Stone (Free Like It Create Your Own Creation)
Old Country Buffet (one free buffet with the purchase of one adult buffet)

I know that there are many more restaurants that offer freebies for your birthday, too. Just check online for your favorites.
That's what works for me, and to check out more great ideas visit Work For Me Wednesday over at Rocks in My Dryer.

Monday, February 02, 2009

Way to Go Steelers!

What a great Super Bowl game! My son and I really enjoyed watching the game and decided that we really are tried and true Steeler fans. Since we live in Phoenix, we were also very excited that the Cardinals went to the Super Bowl, but down deep in our hearts we hoped that the Steelers would win. But we hoped it would be a good and close game, which it surely was! We took alot of ribbing from the folks around here, but the fans here in Phoenix are not as crazy loyal as those Steeler fans in Pittsburgh.

We have been trying to describe to our kids (who did NOT grow up in Pittsburgh like we did) what it is like in Pittsburgh when the Steelers go to the Super Bowl. And others around this area just don't get it when they see the intense loyalty of us Steeler fans:-). I told them it is heritage. The Steelers are a Pittsburgh institution that has been around for more years than any of us can remember and not only that - they are really good at football!!! They are the winningest team in all of Super Bowl history! Now that is a heritage to be proud of:-)