Snow Again

It snowed...

Again.

School's closed...

Again

Just thought I'd leave you with a picture of how Julie entertained herself last week when school was out.
It remains to be seen what today will bring.

(In case you can't tell, that's 2 card tables next to each other with the addition of all the couch cushions and the end of the cushionless couch.  One mega, tent/fort thing.)

Review: Amazon Kindle

(I was supposed to write about things I've learned about blogging yesterday, but, you see, I haven't had the chance to learn anything.  So, I didn't have anything to write.  Already - in week 1 my January goals have flopped.  Guess I'll try anew next week.)


I was so excited in October when I received an Amazon Kindle for my birthday.





There is a lot of new hype/advertising for e-readers out there so I thought I'd start out Review Thursday with my feelings about the Amazon Kindle.

As with any new technology, it has its upsides and its downsides.  I love the fact that it's so portable.  I can literally take 100's of books with me just by carrying the one devise.  The Kindle I got ($139) can connect wirelessly to any WiFi system.  So if I am in a place with WiFi (including my home), I can very easily download a new book to read.  There is a Kindle that is 3G, meaning you can connect to Amazon and download new books from anywhere (works like a smartphone does).  It is $189.

There are TONS of e-books that are free on Amazon.  All of the classics are free all the time.  Newer books tend to be free on occasion, as in they are free for one day and if you catch it, you can push one little button on Amazon and they are yours on your device forever.  I've gotten lots of books this way because free is good!  Most of the other books are reasonably priced - a little lower than the paperback version of the book.  If there is a book that is not offered in Kindle version, you can request it to be.  If Amazon gets enough requests about a book, they will then offer it in e-book format.

As I said above, the Kindle allows you to very easily buy and download new books on the spot - way TOO easily in my opinion.  When you set up your Kindle, you connect it to your Amazon account in order to buy books for it.  When you look at a book in the Kindle store (on the device), the default button that is highlighted is the "Buy" button.  When you click it, there is no doublechecking, no window that pops up to say "Are you sure you want to buy this?"  IT IS BOUGHT.  Right then and you have the book.  On the upside, you get your book immediately.  Your payment information is already on Amazon so you don't have to enter in a credit card number or anything.  On the downside, it's way too easy to accidentally buy a book.  Since the "Buy" button is automatically highlighted when you go to look at a book, if you hit that "Enter" button one too many times you've bought it.  If your child is playing with your Kindle and looks at a book and accidentally hits "Enter", that book is bought, on your device and forever yours.  It's for that reason only that I will not get my daughter a Kindle.  (And I have searched all over the Kindle and all over Amazon's site and can't find any way to change this to make it doublecheck before buying.)

The Kindle differs from other e-readers in that it is not backlit.  They did that so it would look more like a book - white background, black text - and so it would be easier on your eyes.  The reason our eyes get so tired from looking at screens - computers, TV's, video games, etc - is because of the light coming into the screens out at us.  The Kindle does not have that.  On the plus side, that makes it easier on your eyes.  On the downside, you cannot read in the dark without an additional light (which Amazon will sell to you for an additional $14.99). 

Other drawbacks:
- You can only buy books from Amazon.  They need to come out with a universal file type like they did with mp3's so you can buy books from multiple places and read them on any device.
- You can't let your sister borrow the wonderful book you've just finished reading, even if she has a Kindle.
- You can "bookmark" pages, but it's still harder to go back and find things in the book. 

I've told you the pluses and minuses that I've found, but overall, I really like my Kindle.  I bought a cute sleeve for it to protect it in my purse.  It's great for waiting rooms and piano lessons and is just plain handy to have around.  I would highly recommend it to you.

All About Me: My Best Feature

I know it may sound like I'm bragging, but we all need to brag on ourselves once in a while.  Usually when I look in the mirror I see all the things wrong with me, everything I want to change.  So I thought it would be good to start out this series with what I like about me - My Best Feature.

Can you tell? 

I love my smile.  That's my best feature.  I had crooked teeth as a kid, braces as a teenager and now I have a great smile that I am proud of.

What about you?  What do you consider YOUR best feature?

January Goal Checkup

Alright, I've gone out on a limb and told you my New Years Goals.

Since we are now halfway through January, it's time for a checkup (to my credit, it took about 10 days to make the goals, so it's only been 5 days since then).

I won't go through each one individually, just the ones I've worked on.  And I hope to do this at the beginning of every month to keep me on track this year.

Personal Growth
- Blog - I decided to keep me motivated and always with something to write, I would come up with a blog schedule.  As you have seen if you read my blog much, I am not very consistent.  So I thought I'd start small with 3 scheduled days a week - all in the middle of the week.  Then, if it goes well, I'll schedule the other 2 days.  So here's what I've got so far.

Tues - All About Me (You may be groaning right now because, really, do you want to know ALL about me??  But, in order for me to remember what I was like at this time in my life, I thought I'd include this.)

Wed - What I'm Learning - One of my goals in blogging this year is to learn more about blogging for a business.  In my mind that means reading other blogs that talk about it, learning the basics of HTML to update my blog and make it the coolest, and figuring out how to bring traffic over here.  Since I'm one of those people who learns best when I write things down, I thought I'd write it down on here and share my new knowledge with you.

Thurs - Product or Book Review - I'll let you in one what I've been reading recently as well as my favorite products. 

If you have any ideas about what you'd like to see on here, please feel free to let me know.

Physical Health
Exercise - It's official!  I have signed my contest contract at the Art of Weightlifting.  I am entered into the New Years contest.  My task is to consistently workout over the next 8 weeks using only workouts from the Art of Weightlifting as well as to keep a daily food journal on my profile page on the site. I have to show improvement in my diet and that I am trying to eat healthier.  Also involved are 3 update pictures - one now, one in the middle of Feb and one at the end. (By the way, you, too, can join the site for $9.95 a month and get Taylor Ryan as your online personal trainer as well - I get NO kickbacks from this.  I just think it's awesome!)

Marriage and Family Life
Family - We have started nightly Bible readings with the kids.  I found an online Bible Reading plan for children that sticks with age appropriate material (no Judges 19 for them) but gets them through the Bible in a year.  Both of my children have the Adventure Bible in the NIrV (New International Readers Version), which is an easier to read version of the Bible, one on a 3rd grade level.  (One that in Genesis 4 starts out with "Adam made love to his wife, Eve."  Yeah, good thing I was reading that night instead of Julie and gracefully skipped over that verse.  That would have sparked LOTS of questions!)

We're still working on getting our monthly date night on the calendar as well as scheduling our dates with the kids.

Children
Growth -  I had a goal to limit screen time and came up with this great idea of DSi hours.  The kids could play their new DSi's every day form 4:45 - 5:30, if they have done their homework and Julie has practiced piano.  It would give them an incentive to finish homework early and it would give me a chance to make dinner in peace.  It was going great...for the 2 days they were in school last week.  Then they were out of school for 4 days for bad weather and all that kind of flew out the window.  But it's back on this week - nice weather, in school, DSi hours.

We're still coming up with ideas on teaching Julie to respect her parents more.  If you have any, I'd love to hear them.

Financial
- We have gone through and made a more detailed budget for our Disney trip in May.  After doing that and adding up the numbers - We already have enough saved for our whole trip!!!
- Our money per paycheck that we were saving for our Disney vacation will now start going in a Disney Cruise fund.
- We have been steadily putting money from each paycheck into our Roth IRA's.  They are no where near fully funded but they are better than they were a year ago!

Well, it's not perfect yet, but we have made some progress.  Look for my first All About Me post tomorrow.

Wanna Win $500?

The better question is "Who Doesn't?"

Of course you want to win $500.  Just go here and register for ItsThoughtful.com.  When you get there enter their Valentine's Day gift contest by telling your favorite gift ideas for Valentine's Day.  One winner will get $500 and one will get a $100 Amazon gift card - both excellent prizes.

So enter away!!

My New Years Goals

I've kind of dreaded this post.  You see, if I write my goals for all the blogosphere to see, then I really have to follow through with it.  But then again, that's why I DO want to write it - accountability.

I'm not usually one for resolutions, but goals I like.  In fact, I'm a very goal-oriented person.  I really like Money Saving Mom's ideas on goals.  She took each area of her life and made goals for the year.  She also provided links to helpful worksheets on setting goals.  I took all this to heart, printed out some worksheets and together with Tim, made some goals for the year.  Some are broad, some are specific.  My plan is to update you on these goals once a month.

Personal Growth:
Spiritual - reinstitute a daily time to read the Bible and pray.  This includes time when I do my BSF homework.

Blog- Make a blog schedule.  Learn more about blogging for a business.

Mommy jobs- Come up with solutions for chores I don't like: cleaning, coming up with dinner ideas, discipline of children

Physical Health:
Exercise - Start AND FINISH challenge on the art of weightlifting site (my online personal trainer).

Food - Add a new veggie every 2 months (gotta start small here). Eat more whole grains and less white grains.

Marriage and Family Life:
Marriage - Have once a month date nights.  Have once a month date lunches.

Family - Have devotionals at breakfast or dinner.  Assist kids with nightly Bible reading.  Have Family Night 2x a month (games or movie).  Have once a month date with a child (switch children every month).

Children Goals:
Growth - Eat more veggies. Daily time with God. Reading with David.  Working on respect with Julie.  Limit screen time.  

Financial:
- Fully pay for Disney trip with cash.
- Begin saving for Disney cruise.
- Fully fund Roth IRA.
- Up our amount in our emergency fund.
- Give to missions through our church.
    
I'll update you on January tomorrow.  Help me be accountable for keeping these.

What about you?  What are some of your goals for the year?

Happy Noon Years

So since I was "so three weeks ago" yesterday, thought I'd jump ahead in time and be "so 12 days ago" today.

Happy New Years!!

Our local mall had a cute little event for the kids this year at noon on Dec 31.  It was "Happy Noon Years."  It started at 11 with singing, a little magic and a little comedy.  Then they counted down to noon and made lots of noise.

We had some wonderful friends in for the holiday and we all enjoyed it.  (Although, as you can see David had had enough by noon.)  Julie, for the first time ever, stayed up til midnight to ring in the new year with us.  She was SOOO tired but just stubborn enough to keep herself awake.  That's my child :).