I'm so excited today while watching my bird feeders a Northern or Common Flicker came to the suet cage. This is the first time that this bird has joined me for a meal. I get a great deal of enjoyment from feeding the birds, and yes the pesky squirrels in the winter get their share of seeds as well. Generally in the summer I have been successful at keep the squirrels at bay using a baffle however, with the high snow banks they simply jump from the bank top to the feeder pole, by passing the baffle all together !
I have many birds joining me at the feeder such as blue jays, cardinals, chickadees, nut hatches, hairy and downy woodpeckers, finches and hummingbirds. All of these different birds come to the five feeders I have hung from one pole. I feed a high quality mixed sunflower seed, shelled sunflower, suet, Niger seed and shelled peanuts. During the summer I also hang a hummingbird feeder, fresh fruit ( oranges and grapes ) as well as a small tray feeder of live meal worms.
The only thing I'm missing and will try to work on this year is a bird bath or water source for the birds. I can easily place a bath in the yard but must remember to keep it filled. I really would like to be able to run a hose of some sort to the bath to keep it auto filled with a nice heater for the winter and mister for the summer months. I'm still working on the details.
Also nice for the birds AND my yard would be a nice flower garden of native flowers. If done well this would be beautiful to look at and provide food and shelter for the birds in a more natural environment. Again something to work towards.
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Moving from my HD to the NET
Starting over the Christmas & New Years Holidays I began to look for ways to move my computer life onto the net. I've begun to do this so that when it comes time to replace this laptop, or if I'm working on one of the other computers in the household, all of my documents, music and pictures will be available to me. The one requirement I had was that the methods I used must be free as I can't spend a lot of money to put this new challenge into practice.
So the first thing I did was find a way to sync files among my three computers, so far the best method is by using Dropbox , which is installed on each of my computers. I can now save any file into the dropbox up to 2 gig of space and it is immediately available on each of my pc's and is available via the web. This service comes as both free and paid service.
Next, I needed to a find a way to back up my photo's and music collection. After reading around the tech blogs that I enjoy I came upon a highly recommended application called ADrive which offers a free backup software and 50 gig's of free backup space. I have been able to setup my "my documents" to backup at pre-determined times. I'm feeling better already knowing my pictures are safe.
Next up .. what to do with my calendar/contacts/tasks that I currently use MSOffice to keep my address and e-mail up-to-date. Again, many fine alternatives exist but I'm trying to move off my laptop and into the web, so options such as OpenOffice my favorite didn't fill the bill. I have been spending much of my time of late in Google, using google calendar, google reader and gmail. So far all of these have been working fine as my outlook replacements. I am using Remember the Milk to manage my tasks. Another need here was the ability to have all this information available to me via my Tilt Cell Phone. Google docs has also been working fine so far as my spreadsheet, document writer and presentation software. The only problem I've been having is that the Google reader does not format well on my cell phone and I miss my mobile Newsgator software for reading my RSS on the move.
My finances are now gathered for my review using Mint. Having all of my accounts in one place makes it so much simpler to create my budget and monitor my accounts.
If anyone has other suggestions for how to move from the local HD to the "Cloud" ( Net ) feel free to leave your thoughts.
Bonnie
So the first thing I did was find a way to sync files among my three computers, so far the best method is by using Dropbox , which is installed on each of my computers. I can now save any file into the dropbox up to 2 gig of space and it is immediately available on each of my pc's and is available via the web. This service comes as both free and paid service.
Next, I needed to a find a way to back up my photo's and music collection. After reading around the tech blogs that I enjoy I came upon a highly recommended application called ADrive which offers a free backup software and 50 gig's of free backup space. I have been able to setup my "my documents" to backup at pre-determined times. I'm feeling better already knowing my pictures are safe.
Next up .. what to do with my calendar/contacts/tasks that I currently use MSOffice to keep my address and e-mail up-to-date. Again, many fine alternatives exist but I'm trying to move off my laptop and into the web, so options such as OpenOffice my favorite didn't fill the bill. I have been spending much of my time of late in Google, using google calendar, google reader and gmail. So far all of these have been working fine as my outlook replacements. I am using Remember the Milk to manage my tasks. Another need here was the ability to have all this information available to me via my Tilt Cell Phone. Google docs has also been working fine so far as my spreadsheet, document writer and presentation software. The only problem I've been having is that the Google reader does not format well on my cell phone and I miss my mobile Newsgator software for reading my RSS on the move.
My finances are now gathered for my review using Mint. Having all of my accounts in one place makes it so much simpler to create my budget and monitor my accounts.
If anyone has other suggestions for how to move from the local HD to the "Cloud" ( Net ) feel free to leave your thoughts.
Bonnie
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Thoughtful budgets and goals
I used to go the grocery store and spend around a 100.00 per trip to feed my family of three humans and two fur children (a dog and cat to the rest of you). Oddly enough I still ran out of things and we still ate at least 50% of our meals at a restaurant.
A personal goal this year is to gain control of my money, not stop spending it but just have control. I'm 45 this year and have a desire to retire from my job at 52. To this I must be debt free (except for my house) by the time I retire. This means I need to take action today to retire my debt before I can retire myself !!
So, I've put away all credit cards (what a shock that was ! ), I now use my debt card once a week to pull a pre-determined amount of money from the back and I stay away from my favorite on-line shopping sites. I am making a BIG effort to pay in cash for everyday expenses, I think this will give me a better feel for my spending. I'm also using a website called Mint to help me budget my expenses. This site gathers all of my transactions and displays them in one place, allowing me to categorize my expenses and help me to see what I'm doing with my income. The site is free with some advertising but it's not intrusive at all.
I'm on week one of a new plan to reduce my shopping expenses to 50.00 per week. I went shopping on Saturday and spent a total (Market Basket, CVS and Walgreen's) of 55.00 but purchased close to 100.00 worth of items. It took me some time, spent while watching TV, to plan out my shopping but by shopping the sales and using my coupons I was able to cut my bill by half !! I use these two forms to help me organize Weekly Shopping and Qrtly Savings from the Mommy Snacks.Net blog
I have a whole binder full of coupons which I gather from the newspaper, Internet and friends. Using the coupons and sales flyers I am able to plan ahead and using my account at Springboard I have all of my meals planned well ahead.
I love CVS the best, as they have the best sales, between manufacturers coupons and CVS loyalty program I can often get things for free or close to it. I highly recommend the CVS in Stratham as being for cooperative and pleasant to deal with.
A personal goal this year is to gain control of my money, not stop spending it but just have control. I'm 45 this year and have a desire to retire from my job at 52. To this I must be debt free (except for my house) by the time I retire. This means I need to take action today to retire my debt before I can retire myself !!
So, I've put away all credit cards (what a shock that was ! ), I now use my debt card once a week to pull a pre-determined amount of money from the back and I stay away from my favorite on-line shopping sites. I am making a BIG effort to pay in cash for everyday expenses, I think this will give me a better feel for my spending. I'm also using a website called Mint to help me budget my expenses. This site gathers all of my transactions and displays them in one place, allowing me to categorize my expenses and help me to see what I'm doing with my income. The site is free with some advertising but it's not intrusive at all.
I'm on week one of a new plan to reduce my shopping expenses to 50.00 per week. I went shopping on Saturday and spent a total (Market Basket, CVS and Walgreen's) of 55.00 but purchased close to 100.00 worth of items. It took me some time, spent while watching TV, to plan out my shopping but by shopping the sales and using my coupons I was able to cut my bill by half !! I use these two forms to help me organize Weekly Shopping and Qrtly Savings from the Mommy Snacks.Net blog
I have a whole binder full of coupons which I gather from the newspaper, Internet and friends. Using the coupons and sales flyers I am able to plan ahead and using my account at Springboard I have all of my meals planned well ahead.
I love CVS the best, as they have the best sales, between manufacturers coupons and CVS loyalty program I can often get things for free or close to it. I highly recommend the CVS in Stratham as being for cooperative and pleasant to deal with.
Friday, January 2, 2009
Old Friends
Meeting up with a friend for dinner tonight. We've been friends now for 30 plus years ! Oh how that makes me feel old !
I've been trying to help my 14 year son develop his circle of friends. He's learning sometimes painfully, that not all friends have your best interest at heart. Some friends are great fun, but at the end of the day you don't really know to much about them. Others, usually very few in number are friends for a life time. These are the friends that you've kept in touch with even when they lived on the other side of the country or even the world. As they traveled Europe and you raised a family still we've always come back together to share our lives..the end of a marriage, birth of a child or changes in employment.
He's just learning his friends are sometimes cruel, sometimes helpful and often times judgmental. He's going to follow some advise I gave him ( and no I didn't faint when he agreed) that having a wider circle of friends that weren't all "interconnected" might be a good idea. So he's going to try and find some out side interests to work on that don't include this group of kids so next time there's a big "ta do about nothing" he won't worry so much what they think.
Everyone wants to belong to a group, to be liked and respected...the trick is to find the right group.
I've been trying to help my 14 year son develop his circle of friends. He's learning sometimes painfully, that not all friends have your best interest at heart. Some friends are great fun, but at the end of the day you don't really know to much about them. Others, usually very few in number are friends for a life time. These are the friends that you've kept in touch with even when they lived on the other side of the country or even the world. As they traveled Europe and you raised a family still we've always come back together to share our lives..the end of a marriage, birth of a child or changes in employment.
He's just learning his friends are sometimes cruel, sometimes helpful and often times judgmental. He's going to follow some advise I gave him ( and no I didn't faint when he agreed) that having a wider circle of friends that weren't all "interconnected" might be a good idea. So he's going to try and find some out side interests to work on that don't include this group of kids so next time there's a big "ta do about nothing" he won't worry so much what they think.
Everyone wants to belong to a group, to be liked and respected...the trick is to find the right group.
Thursday, January 1, 2009
Setting 2009 Goals - My 2009 New Years Resolutions
Like half of America I set my "New Years Resolutions" each year only to have them fail shortly after I start out. My resolutions always seem to be - black or white - either pass or fail. So the
first time that I have a set back on one of my resolutions I feel like a failure and quit or forget about my resolutions altogether.
I happened on this site : Smart Goals which had some guidelines on setting goals instead of resolutions. This site recommends how to set your goals and make them attainable. Following their suggestions I have set the following goals for 2009 :
With only three goals for the years, it is not overwhelming to me and each improves my general outlook on life. I'll be back over the following weeks to keep you up to date on my goals and how I'm doing.
Bonnie
first time that I have a set back on one of my resolutions I feel like a failure and quit or forget about my resolutions altogether.
I happened on this site : Smart Goals which had some guidelines on setting goals instead of resolutions. This site recommends how to set your goals and make them attainable. Following their suggestions I have set the following goals for 2009 :
- Pay off one of my Credit Cards ( I'm taking back control of my finances )
- Save $600.00 for my emergency fund ( I set up a fund @ ING direct account), this fund will prevent me from needing to use a credit card for unexpected expenses (see frozen water pipe blog)
- Lose another 12 pounds ( I lost 30 pounds last year, but have more to go ! However weight loss always slows down and I don't want to lose my momentum )
With only three goals for the years, it is not overwhelming to me and each improves my general outlook on life. I'll be back over the following weeks to keep you up to date on my goals and how I'm doing.
Bonnie
Below Zero
Well, I was so looking forward to a shower today, right up till I turned on the water to find NO water. I promptly yelp in panic and ran around opening all the faucets, to find no water in any of the taps. That warranted a colorful word or two, and then felt the tears start.
How was I going to pay to thaw the pipes and repair them ? Who could I call, I'm a single mom with little practical repair skills. As I've found in the past, a deep breath and a considered thought tend to be helpful. Since this is not my first winter, I grew up in VT and I've lived in NH for the past 20 or so years, I'm well aware of the necessity of heat tape on water pipes.
I dressed warmly and headed out to the back of my home to find the water pipes and survey the damage. I live in a relatively new double wide mobile home and the pipes are in the crawl space under the home. Luckily I know where the water enters the home and was able to find it quickly enough.
I had to take apart some of my skirting and then to my shock and discust I found that the heat tape was NOT even plugged in !! I was so angery with myself, I must of unplugged it to save a few bucks on the electricity and never made a note to double check it in the fall. So I plugged it back in and said a prayer that it'd be enough to get the water back on.
Coming back into the house, I warned my kids that we had no water so go easy on the flushes and no showers for the time being. To late of course as they'd gotten up while I was out fighting off the snow drifts to find the water access. Oh well, grin and bare it is the best you can do.
So I sat down at my laptop, thinking about plan B if the water didn't miraculous start to flow. There has never been a sweeter sound than that of flowing water in the kitchen ! I guess I was incredibly lucky that the freeze must of been slight and the heat tape was able to thaw it on its own.
So yet another disaster averted.
Bonnie
How was I going to pay to thaw the pipes and repair them ? Who could I call, I'm a single mom with little practical repair skills. As I've found in the past, a deep breath and a considered thought tend to be helpful. Since this is not my first winter, I grew up in VT and I've lived in NH for the past 20 or so years, I'm well aware of the necessity of heat tape on water pipes.
I dressed warmly and headed out to the back of my home to find the water pipes and survey the damage. I live in a relatively new double wide mobile home and the pipes are in the crawl space under the home. Luckily I know where the water enters the home and was able to find it quickly enough.
I had to take apart some of my skirting and then to my shock and discust I found that the heat tape was NOT even plugged in !! I was so angery with myself, I must of unplugged it to save a few bucks on the electricity and never made a note to double check it in the fall. So I plugged it back in and said a prayer that it'd be enough to get the water back on.
Coming back into the house, I warned my kids that we had no water so go easy on the flushes and no showers for the time being. To late of course as they'd gotten up while I was out fighting off the snow drifts to find the water access. Oh well, grin and bare it is the best you can do.
So I sat down at my laptop, thinking about plan B if the water didn't miraculous start to flow. There has never been a sweeter sound than that of flowing water in the kitchen ! I guess I was incredibly lucky that the freeze must of been slight and the heat tape was able to thaw it on its own.
So yet another disaster averted.
Bonnie
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