The Voice New Testament Review

The Voice New Testament  Step Into the Story of Scripture.
ISBN 978-1-4185-5076-9
Published by  Thomas Nelson

The Voice New Testament features:
Hundreds of engaging notes throughout with a topical index for easy use.
Four different reading programs to help you step in to the story.
A bold new look with speaker identification and helpful resources through the test.
Hear God speaking to you in this fresh way of reading Scripture.

The Voice New Testament is the result of the extraordinary contributions of 27 Bible scholars, 51 writers, and 36 other contributors.  It recaptures the passion, grit, humor, and beauty that is often lost in the translation process.

My Review:
The first thing I did was take The Voice to Bible study with me at church and have the pastor look it over.  I wanted to ensure that I wasn't stepping in to something that wasn't true to God's word.  The pastor spent a lot of time looking through it.  He compared many verses to his Bible and they were indeed the same.
He kept saying "this is good" over and over.  This was good enough for me to know I could trust the words in The Voice.

What I really like about it is the speaker identification.  This tells me who is saying what.....the disciples, Paul, Jesus, etc etc.  Along the way I'm enjoying the extra notes throughout.  My current Bible is a study Bible and I have a hard time looking things up in it.

I thought I might give this Bible as a gift to my brother, or nephew.  I'm keeping this copy for myself and look forward to reading it from cover to cover.  I'm including a link below to purchase from amazon.  I highly recommend this Bible!!

 



Disclaimer: I received The Voice New Testament from booksneeze.com for the purpose of this review. I was not compensated in any other way. All opinions are my own.

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Frugal Friday Link Up--Three Uses for Flour

I hope today finds most of you resting an relaxing after a good Thanksgiving day yesterday. We were well fed for sure. It was great to be around so much family.

A few of us suffered stomach problems last night though, me included. Which is why this post is later than usual. I turned off my alarm and slept until I woke up this morning!

Today I am sharing 3 uses for flour out of the 99 Cent Solutions book.

1. Clean copper and brass. Mix 2 tbsp flour and 2 tbsp while vinegar and 2 tbsp regular iodized table salt. Rub the resulting paste thickly on copper or brass (the uncoated kind, not anything with varnish on it) and let it dry. Use a soft, lint-free cloth to buff the dry remainings off your metal object. You will find a smooth, mellow shine with an unharmed finish. (This sure could save you a lot of money over buying copper and brass cleaners)

2. Buff a stainless steel sink. Bring the shine back to a steel sink by drying it with a dishtowel. Then sprinkle plain white flour over the surface--not too much, just a light coating---and rub it with a soft dry cloth. Rinse with water and polish with another dry cloth.

3. Restore a deck of cards. Your favorite deck of cards will gradually show the wear and tear of all those finger oils. You don't have to give them up, however. Put the cards in a ziplock bag and scoop in about a cup of flour. Seal the bag and shake to coat every surface. Let the cards sit for about 10 minutes so the flour can absorb the oils from the surface. Remove the cards and shake off the excess flour. You are ready to start clearing the poker chips off the table again!

Squidoo Hopping--Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcome to the Thanksgiving edition of squidoo hopping. I hope this post finds you are preparing for a great day with family and friends.
We are about to put the turkey on and the green bean casserole in the crockpot.

I did do some squidoo work this past week:
I built a new day in history lens. This Day in History August 13. This one in honor of my granddaughter, Ariel's birthday. I am getting closer to having enough to build my placeholder lens to list them in order by month.

I updated the following lenses:
Learn About Greece
Online Parties
Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center

I'm spending a lot more time in the 2 squidoo groups that I belong to on facebook. Spending more time meaning trying to list my own lenses and look at the ones that others are listing.

I'm going to hurry along, but I would like to invite you all to the Christmas celebration with the online craft mall. I am promoting my crafts on Monday and Friday.



And a cute Thanksgiving graphic too.


Myspace Graphics, Thanksgiving Graphics at WishAFriend.com

Statistics on Education by Country

As a homeschool mom, I found these statistics to be very interesting.  Especially the part about the ratio being 1:1 between Wal Mart workers and high school teachers.

I was a little surprised by the fact that the United States is at the top of the list for the percentage spent by the government on education.
They actually make it easy for you to get your degree from
accredited online colleges with grants to help you pay for your education.

I hope you will check out all of the statistics for yourself.

Click to Zoom
Click to find more information on earning Online College Credits

Makes and Takes for Kids 50 crafts throughout the year

With 5 grandchildren living with us between the ages of 2 and 10, I was super thrilled to be have the chance to review Make and Takes for Kids 50 crafts throughout the year!

I am a firm believer in keeping the minds of children working. A belief that they need many things to do other than watch tv, play on the computer, or play video games.

Make and Takes for Kids is filled with 50 craft projects to last throughout the year. Each month highlights 4 crafts, with February and December having 5 crafts.
All of the crafts are pretty simple, come with a photo, and clear instructions. Also included with each craft is a list of the learning objectives for that craft.

My grandkids looked through the book and have found lots of things to make. We started with making the Leaf Rubbing Turkey Feathers. I took the kids out for the walk to collect the leaves to rub. My daughter sat with all her children one evening to make the turkeys.
Below is a picture of them rubbing leaves and another photo of the 5 of them holding up their completed turkeys.

With December coming right up, I wanted to share a picture of the pages for one of the 5 crafts for December.

Book info:
Written by Marie LeBaron ISBN 978-1-118-08336-9 Published by Wiley

Find out more on the book tour here.
Fine Make and Takes on facebook here.

Top 10 Black Friday Free Shipping Coupons

You don't have to camp out to get in on Black Friday savings. In fact, it's easier and warmer to shop online this year, particularly with an abundance of Black Friday free shipping offers available on FreeShipping.org. The following list is a taster of the best promotions, and likely a nice preview of what will be available come December 16, when Free Shipping Day showcases offers from over 2,000 merchants with free delivery by Christmas Eve.

1. Best Buy
Free shipping on all orders.

2. American Eagle
Free shipping plus 40% off with code 7242983.

3. Shoes.com
Free shipping plus 25% off Sale and Clearance items with code YAMS.

4. Coldwater Creek
Enjoy Coldwater Creek free shipping on all orders with code AFLC924.

5. Bloomingdale's
Free shipping on all orders with code FREESHIP11.

6. Yves Saint Laurent
Free shipping plus 20% off all orders.

7. Lands' End
Enjoy free shipping from Lands' End plus 30% off your entire order.

8. Urban Outfitters
Free shipping on all orders.

9. Target
Free shipping plus $7 off orders of $70 or more on select items.

10. Kohl's
Free shipping on orders of $50 or more.


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FreeShipping.org is the largest resource on the Internet linking shoppers to free-shipping deals offered by nearly 4,000 online merchants.

WIP Wednesday--Getting My Smokey On!

My goal is to finish this Dora quilt by Friday. I want to be able to list it in my TGIFF post as well as have it listed in my etsy store.
I have a long ways to go and a short time to get there, as it says in the Smokey and the Bandit song.

Pictured below is the quilt and my progress, along with the matching pillow. I have since sewn the top of the pillow (about midnight last night) so it's done. The second photo I am trying to show you a close-up of my hand quilting.

I admit it's been neat doing it, but also admit my frustrations. I'm sure glad it doesn't have to be perfect, and I thank the many people who have pointed out to me not to worry about imperfections in quilting. I do hope this Dora quilt and pillow will make some little girl happy.

My biggest problem is what to do with the knots. Since it's backed with a pre-made quilted fabric, I've not been able to "hide" the knots. The only ones that are sort of hidden are where I got to start on the edge.

I was sewing some other things and I have this habit. My habit is to keep sewing until the bobbin in the machine is empty. I don't worry about the color of the thread when sewing quilt squares together. In the picture below you will see my pile of squares, along with the strips I have left, of the flowered material. I'm still anxious to see just how many squares I get, in hopes of enough for 2 quilt tops.

My sewing is put on hold for the moment. I will be moving this table out of the living room to put up the Christmas tree. As of right now the grandkids have moved back out. I'm in the process of cleaning up the middle bedroom and making it back in to my craft room. I thought I could just go throw their stuff in boxes and be done, but it's not working out that way. I should have included a picture of my messy progress. I never told you gals about the wonderful crafting desk I was able to buy at a yard sale for just $5!! I will try to share a picture next week, along with me ready to get back to sewing.

Please join us starting Monday for the Christmas Celebration with the Online Craft Mall.  I am presenting both Monday and Friday!!   If you are interesting in having your own presentation hour, today (Nov. 23) is the last day to sign up....only $5 for the one hour slot!   Join us and see what's happening, and how it works.  You may then want to sign up for the next online parties.


I will stop rambling on now so that I can go check out what everyone else is up to this week. I am linking up with the following blogs:

Homeschool Journey--Making Use of the Public Library

Again last week we only ended up with 2 days of what I call full school.  By that I mean that all of the books got pulled out and we worked every subject.

I am super busy with my crafts.  I've decided it's a must to up my income.  They won't sell if they aren't made!

We always go to the library each Tuesday after Bible study.  Right now we still have 5 books about Greece to read.  I'm building a squidoo lens highlighting the books we are reading, photos, and what we are learning.  I will share that once we get through all of the books.  This last week we went to the video section.  For now, watching educational videos throughout the week is going to be part of our routine.
We only watched 2 last week.  One was on Ghost Ships of the Great Lakes and the other was Alex Anderson Teaches You to Start Quilting.  Ok, the quilting video was for me, but she really paid attention to it.  So much that I'm sure she will be reminding me a lot of what the lady was teaching.  Yep....home-ec.

I need to work harder at cracking down on her to work on things that she can do on her own.

I have a software to review called the Algebrator.  I hope to get that done tomorrow.  Along with the review will be a giveaway here on my blog.  Jasmine is actually excited to give it a try and see if seeing the problem worked in front of her will help her understand it better than me working problems on the board for her to see and reading how to do them out of a book.

I will leave you with this photo of Jasmine holding up one of her chalk pastel drawings.  
 

Torani Gourmet Syrups Review and Giveaway

My review:
Pictured above are the 2 bottles of Torani Gourmet Syrups that I was sent to try and review as part of the shespeaks website.  I'm not a coffee drinker myself, but my daughter is.  I knew she would delve into the flavors right away.
She loved the Salted Caramel flavor straight from the bottle.  Gingerbread from the bottle, no  LOL  It had too strong of a flavor.  She used the Salted Caramel in iced coffee.
My daughters boyfriend also tried the Salted Caramel in his hot coffee.  He enjoyed it at first but then said the salt flavor took over.

Along with the 2 bottles of Torani Gourmet Syrups came a recipe booklet.  Since I am not a coffee drinker and know nothing about flavored coffee drinks, I was glad to see recipes for other drinks as well.  Two that I really want to try are: Torani Cherry Lime Soda and  Electric Blue Lemonade.


I did a search of my zip code to see where in my area I can buy the Torani Gourmet Syrups.  I found the only place in my area is a bulk foods store in the Amish/Mennonite community.  I do look forward to a trip to the store to try some other flavors.

About Torani:

Since 1925, family-owned Torani has been crafting great tasting flavored syrups that coffeehouses use to make their flavored drinks taste so delicious. With over 120 flavors in regular and sugar free varieties, Torani flavored syrups are perfect for flavored lattes, mochas, coffees, cocoas, Italian sodas, teas, lemonades, cocktails and smoothies. Coffeehouse professionals choose Torani flavors because they are expertly crafted and made with the highest quality ingredients, like natural flavors and pure cane sugar. The sugar free flavors have no calories and are sweetened with Splenda. Now, Torani Flavored Syrups are widely available at retail so you can easily create authentic coffeehouse quality drinks at home.

Popular Drink Types for Syrups:

• Flavored Coffees/Espresso Drinks (Most popular drink type for flavored syrups)
• Italian Sodas
• Flavored Tea (Hot and Cold)
• Flavored Lemonades
• Flavored Sodas (Coca-Cola, Mountain Dew, etc)
• Cocktails
• Mocktails
• Flavored Energy drinks (Red Bull)

Torani Syrup Flavor Varieties: Torani flavored syrups are available in over 122 flavors, which include regular and sugar free varieties. Please go to www.Torani.com to see all flavors.

Distribution/Where to Buy Torani Flavored Syrups: Torani syrups are primarily used at coffeehouses and restaurants in over 40 countries. Within the retail flavored syrup category, Torani has a dominant market share exceeding 60%. At US retail outlets, Torani is available at stores such as:

• Cost Plus World Market
• BevMo
• Walmart
• Smart and Final
• Most major grocery stores
• Amazon.com (wide assortment of flavors)
• Torani.com and Shop.Torani.com (widest assortment of flavors)

 Special offer from shespeaks and Torani!! 

Another part of my blog package are some free coupons.  I am offering a giveaway with 2 winners.  Each winner will receive 2 free coupons to try the Torani syrups for themselves.  :)

Disclaimer:  I was sent the Torani Gourmet Syrups as part of a shespeaks blog campaign.  I was also sent the free coupons to distribute as I see fit.  I was not compensated in any other way.  All opinions are my own.

Magel's Ghost by Nancy Baker--Book Review

Magel's Ghost by Nancy Baker
ISBN 978-0-87839-424-1
Published by North Star Press of St. Cloud, Inc.

Magel's Ghost is the sequel to Magel's Daughter. As I started reading chapter one, I admit to being totally confused....and because of my confusion I didn't know if I wanted to continue reading the book or not. I did continue to read the book, as I do with any book that I have agreed to review. As the chapters unfold, so does parts of what happened in the first book, making things a bit more clear.

This is from the back of the book:
Magel's Ghost,the sequel to Magel's Daughter, continues the story of Karin as she relocated to Minneapolis. Magel has now joined the hallucinatory gathering and continues to harass Karin from beyond the grave.

Hagen, her demented cousin, assists her in the quest for power in the art community. Hagan's role is to dispose of any real or imagined enemies using his expertise as a master butcher and sausage maker. The responsibility of maintaining the purity of the family's Norwegian genealogy rests on Hagan's skills.

The characters caught in Karin's wed, involve the grandfather, gather, and son of a wealthy Minneapolis family. She is at once the ultimate fantasy and lover to all three men. The ripple effect of her destructive psychosis is hilarious.

My review:
I requested to review Magel's Ghost because it was logged as a paranormal romance. I had read one before that was really good.
I guess you could say Magel's Ghost is a romance, but I wouldn't really see it that way. Sure, there is lots of sex in the book. Here I must say that not only is there a lot of sex in the book, it is described explicitly, and most of it I found to be quite disturbing.

The last line of the description from the back of the book talks about Karin's destructive psychosis as hilarious. I didn't find much funny in this book. Sure, I laughed out loud several times while reading it. Then others (my husband and daughter mostly) would ask me what was so funny. I would then have to tell them, but it was always so out there more than funny.

I did read the book to the end. It ends in a way that yet another sequel can easily be born. This is not my type of reading at all. What I mean by that is the explicit sex scenes alone. Without those I found this book to be entertaining and engaging. It made me do a lot of wondering about these Norwegian customs...wondering if by chance they really are true.

I generally don't go into any detail about a book in my reviews as I do not want to spoil the reading for anyone else. This book is no different...besides, I would have no idea where to start! I would suggest that if you enjoy this type of reading, to read Magel's Daughter before Magel's Ghost. Both are listed below for sale on amazon if you are interested.

Mailbox Monday 11/21/11

I was thinking it was a pretty boring week then I remembered a book I had gotten that didn't get in the whole picture, but I had taken a picture of it by itself as a jump start for my review.  Oh yes, and 2 boxes of cookies from bzzagent!









In my email this past week I rec'd $5 amazon from swagbucks and $5 amazon from superpoints.  I was also paid $10 paypal from gather.

4 Essential Shopping Apps for Black Friday and Cyber Monday

With Black Friday and Cyber Monday quickly upon us I wanted to share these apps with my readers.  I know that many of you use apps on your phones and these will be very helpful.

The mobile app expert, Simon Buckingham, CEO of Appitalism (the mobile app superstore) and the Appitalism team recommend the following Black Friday/Cyber Monday apps.

• Black Friday Deals ($0.99 for the Android) - Get all the info you need for Black Friday shopping! Browse hot deals and buying guides, look through ad scans and check store hours. Create a shopping list, win prizes! Everything you need to be prepared this Black Friday is here.

• Black Friday Deals & Coupons (Free for the Android) - Great coupons for saving money on Black Friday - the biggest shopping day of the year. We will also update the app for cyber Monday and throughout the holiday season and onward.

• Black Friday Survival Guide (Free for the Android) - Black Friday is one of the biggest shopping days of the year and a great time to find incredible deals. blackfriday.fm wants you to be ready when the big day rolls around this year on November 26th, so we’re bringing the latest news, the biggest sales, and the best deals right to your phone with the blackfriday.fm app.

TGI Cyber Monday (Free for the Android) Cyber Monday (November 28th, 2011) is quickly becoming one of the busiest and biggest shopping days of the year. We want to make it as easy as possible for you to save the most money this holiday season. Be sure to use this app to browse all of this year’s top cyber monday deals from over 50 of the top retailers in the world, including Amazon, Walmart, Target, Kohl’s, Best Buy, and many more.

About Appitalism.com

Appitalism.com combines a social community with an online store, enabling consumers to discover, discuss and download digital media from a catalog of over ten million premium apps, songs, books, games and videos compatible with a broad range of digital devices including smartphones, tablets, PCs and eBook readers. Simply put, there is no better way to discover and download apps and digital content than on Appitalism.com

Disclaimer: This information was sent to me by Austin Rotter, 5W Public Relations for me to share with my blog readers.