Checkbook register

Being a fan of Dave Ramsey I try to implement alot of what he teaches. Okay everything he teaches. One thing he mentions is keeping your checking account/check book balanced. Well in today's world of on-line banking you can see what is going on at the bank in real time however it was important to me to master this skill.

I started out with good old fashioned pen and paper, but found it increasing difficult to keep it up. I would always get messed up if I forgot to make an entry or if I entered an entry incorrectly. I'm a little OCD so trying to correct these made a mess so didn't sit well with me. Additionally, whenever it did come to balancing the account I would be off by some bizarre amount.

Well I started researching what software was available to help keep track of these things. I tried mint and yodlee and I know years ago I tried quick books and microsoft money too. I would always get frustrated with this type of software as you would typically download your transactions and things wouldn't always jive and I felt that they only told me where my money went than managing my money. Now this probably had more to do with user error than anything, but needless to say, it didn't work for me.

I finally came across clearcheckbook.com ! This met my criteria exactly. You manually input transactions-like the old fashioned pen and paper method, it has an on-line interface as well as mobile apps for both andriod and iphone and I can reconcile my account properly. So I can see if checks that I've written have cleared or on-line purchases with my debit card. It even has scheduled reminders for items that automatically hit your account each month. Did I mention its free?

Now if you swipe your debit card like a crazy person I can see how the manual entry thing could get exhausting but I love that when I get my bank statement I can go down the line of items and check them off and that the balances match. If for some reason things don't balance its much simpler to double check my transactions and make any necessary changes.

I was able to set up budgets so I can see at a glance where we stand. And I love that Ben and I can see what's going on with our accounts in real time on the go. Now we are just trying to figure out how long we should keep receipts! How long do you keep yours?

Wordless Wednesday-Turning 30/Throw back!!

Where has the time gone?

Short hair was a big NO NO!

Baby Pictures : )

Earth Month

So I defiantly need more hours in a day. The end of last week caught up to me really quickly and I just didn't have the energy to get in front of the computer and blog. I also didn't feel like it at work (its been really slow) and I have to look busy now and then so it doesn't always work out! Anyway, I'm hoping to get back into the flow of things and do a couple of double posts some days this week to meet my challenge of 30 blog posts in April. It's probably really supposed to be one a day but I'm going to give myself a break,

So this past weekend Ben and I enjoyed cleaning up Palmyra Cove Nature Park's beach in honor of Earth Month. As independent associates with Viridian Energy we were glad that we could be involved in this sustainability initiative. Viridian has organized these events (with local organizations) throughout their territories and have even put together a great page to celebrate earth month.

The bridge in the background goes over to Philadelphia, PA

We turned up a little late but were able to catch up with everyone else pretty quickly. Ben and I enjoyed being on the "beach" I enjoyed the sound of the water and just being out in nature, the atmosphere is definitely different than being at a park clean up. The sand, however, was killer on the legs. The trash unfortunately was the same-plastic bottles, prepackaged food wrappers and other disgusting stuff (a deer leg and dead rats-these I refused to pick up) and that was on the mild end of disgusting. After 2 hours I was pooped and ready to relax for awhile.

It was also lunch time so we went to grab some lunch and ran into my old boss from about 3 years ago which was such a nice surprise as he is a great guy. When we were done with eating the waitress came over to let us know that he had paid for our meal : )! Thank you Joe!

Are there any sustainability initiatives were you are?

Yeah the beach!

Ahh, if only we were in a tropical country

Styling our heavy duty gloves with plastic gloves underneath.

Rich Roll Podcast

I'm can't remember how, but a few weeks ago I came across this awesome podcast by a guy called Rich Roll. I had not heard of him before but just remember hearing he had a really good podcast so thought I'd check it out.  The podcasts are pretty long but are defiantly worth listening to, if you have an interest in health, fitness and/or spirituality. I decided that I would start listening to the podcast from the beginning (he had just started at the end of last year) so I could get the full story.  Well this lead me to borrowing his book-finding ultra- from the library. What a great read. His story is very inspiring-especially for those of us who have gained a few extra LB's over the years- and even those who haven't. He has overcome some giant obstacles in his life and his story came across well in the book along with his wicked sense of humor.

Rich roll's wife, Julie Piatt, sometimes guest hosts on the podcast with him. I think these are the best ones, the way they play off of each other is hilarious. I really appreciate how they can laugh at themselves individually and as a couple. Needless to say lots of fun to listen to in the car and great information.

What podcast's do you listen to?

Wordless Wednesday-Yeah to hot weather and Rita's

Post gymnastics treat...someone was happy

Weekend sniffles

So amidst the birthday parties and general conference I was diligently trying to fight off a cold. Someone in my office hadn't been feeling very well earlier last week and I could feel the germs circulating, well I unfortunately wasn't very proactive, add in a few late nights and I sir-came to the cold. Friday I woke up feeling okay, but as my day progressed things went down hill. From the time I left the house until I arrived at my office it was like I was a different person. I couldn't stop sneezing, my eyes were watering and I had to blow my nose so many times it was red raw by lunch! I felt bad staying at work but was able to avoid too much contact with people.

So operation get well was in full force. My main weapons were apple cider vinegar, honey, lemon, garlic, cayenne pepper and lavender oil. I took shoots of apple cider vinegar , which is very good at alkalizing your body. Then I mixed the freshly squeezed lemon juice with honey, cayenne pepper and garlic ( which I crushed) and poured hot water over it to let it brew before drinking. I followed this up with rubbing lavender oil on my neck, chin and bridge of my nose as well as burning it in a oil diffuser.

I also tried to eat as clean as I could to help boost my immune system so I could fight it off but unfortunately I couldn't resist our general conference tradition but did have a great smoothy on Saturday and made a huge jug of green juice on Sunday. I also tried to stay a hydrated as possible drinking lots of herbal tea-peppermint and camomile are my favorite-I also drank some coconut water and of course good old fashioned filtered water.

Yeah fitting in a green smoothie on the go

Yesterday (Monday)  evening I was feeling way better with just a little bit of a stuffy noise. Today I'm even better with the last few remnants of it leaving...I can actually smell and taste again : ) Oh I forgot I used coconut oil to help my nose and it is all better too. Now poor Ben is fighting it off...Sorry honey!

Pure lavender essential oil-my Mum has used these since I was a kid.

My oil diffuser spreading wellness in our living room, then kitchen, then bedroom.

183rd Annual General Conference Weekend

We had the pleasure of watching general conference this weekend. The Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints holds conference twice a year. Once in the Spring and than again in the Fall. General Conference is transmitted from the conference center in Salt Lake City, Utah. Talks are given by the general authorities of the church that give its members guidance. 

I was very blessed after being baptized to be able to go to Salt Lake City and attend conference in person. The experience was fa-nominal.  I would encourage everyone to attend in person, at least once if possible. Anyway back to this years conference. As I mentioned conference is transmitted, and can be watched on BYU-TV (if you have satellite t.v) or in our case we watched it on-line at LDS.org. We have a HDMI hook up from our t.v to the P.C so its pretty much like watching a regular t.v show. Saturday did present a little challenge but we were able to watch 2 out of the 4 hours in between the birthday parties.

I love general conference as I find it is so uplifting. I always hear something that resonates with whatever is going on in my life at the time. The feeling it brings into our home..can only be described as sweet bliss.This year was also one of the first years Cordelia has really paid attention to what was going on. It was so sweet seeing her face light up as she saw President Monson come onto the screen.

Besides the spiritual blessings of conference there are temporal ones too! We get to enjoy the tradition of cinnamon rolls and pineapple and strawberries. This tradition was started by my good friends Ashleigh and Spencer. I was hauled up at home with Strep Throat (luckily no longer contagious) and this was the wonderful breakfast they brought over. Well I loved it so much that it has stuck. This may change in the future as it doesn't quite fit with the new dietary direction I'm trying to take, but I'm taking baby steps!

Yummy!! I forgot to get a picture of them before we dug in : )

In between conference on Sunday Cordelia did enjoy playing some wii, and dress up and dancing and a few other things.

What do you like about general conference?