Organize your life with Mint.com

Hubby has been looking for a monthly expense tracker, and I found this top rated one on Google. I researched it before I created an account, because you do have to give your bank user ID and password so that this program can pull your information and create your profile. That can be really scary, but in the following videos you will see that this is a secure site. It will show you pie charts and graphs, you will know exactly where your money is going each month.  It will even alert you when bills are due and if your bank account falls below a specified level.

After I installed the program, in minutes we could start to see where our money was going, what our big expenses are. It's very clear that we are spending a lot of money on food. No surprise, there. It updates automatically daily, so once you set up the categories you don’t have to manually input anything.

This is an amazin' raisin, girlfriends. If you really want to know where your money is going, this program is all you'll ever need, and the best part is that's it totally free. Interested, umhmmmm, I bet a lot of you are. Just go to mint.com and get started. Here are some videos that should reassure you that this is safe and give you a bit of insight into the software. What a great Sunday project I have for you. ;o)

~ jan

 

 

 

We're not alone, look who's aging right along with us...

My morning coffee and newspaper just isn't the same anymore...

Recently, hubby and I subscribed to our local paper online.  The e-edition costs us $9 a month, so it's less expensive than the paper version, no more traipsing out to the mailbox, no papers to dispose of, we just click and read.  It's a bit of an adjustment, getting used to it, but it works wonderfully.  So now I sit at the computer and read the paper with my morning cuppa joe.  I like it, I really like it...

 

 

 

My thoughts about more snow

Snow is moving in once again tonight, the forecasters are predicting 2-4 inches, but they never get it right.  When I saw the forecast, this is exactly what I thought!!!  Porky says it better than I ever could ;o)

Do you know this old cartoon dates back to 1938.  I bet I got a grin out of you, and I bet a lot of you feel the same way about this gawdawful winter we're all having...

Betty White on Letterman last night

Okay, only one more Betty White post.  We have to enjoy this National Treasure while we can, after all she turned eighty-nine yesterday.  This clip from her on Letterman is so good, oh ladies, you're going to laugh so hard when they bring out the vodka!

Five things I love about McDonald's

I'm serious here, Mickey D is always getting bad press, but there are healthy options, and they're good, too!

1. Their new oatmeal offering - it's amazing, full of great fruit, creamy, hot and it's only $2.00
2. Fruit and Yogurt Parfait, great for an afternoon snack
3. Senior coffee, yes, senior coffee - 55 cents and it tastes awesome.
4. Grilled chicken sandwich, real chicken breast, not processed
5. Fish Sandwich, okay, so it's not healthy, and it's probably made of parts of fish you don't want to know about, but I love it, Deanna does, too!

See, I did it, five things that are good and only one that is unhealthy.  Don't even think about going there with the coffee, I think of caffeine as a food group, it gets this old girl up and running, and anything that gets me going I consider healthy.   And I didn't even mention the fresh apple slices with caramel dip

Mary Tyler Moore is going to be on Hot in Cleveland tonight

Season premiere tonight, 9pm, TV Land - this is a must see for yours truly...

A smile for you this morning, just for my buddy V ;o)

Anne of Green Gables, where have you been all of my life?

Why did I never read this wonderful old classic before?  It's taken all of these years for me to discover Anne and her wonderful story.  I'm having a wonderful time, spending evenings by the fire with the dogs, reading.
I can't wait to go to the next books, Anne of Avolea, then Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, Anne's House of Dreams, Rainbow Valley and Rilla of Ingleside.
Okay, so I'll burn out, but hoping to at least get to Anne of Windy Poplars before that happens.
And when I'm not reading this, I'm reading the latest Robyn Carr novel, Promise Canyon.  It's the last in a series of her Virgin River books, which are wonderful reads if you're looking for interesting contemporary fiction.  I love series, you get to know the characters, the town, it's just so much fun, you are drawn right into these stories.
Here's the entire Virgin River list, if you are looking for something interesting this winter, start with book one and read forward.  If you enjoy romance novels with a good story line, you won't be bored, pinky swear you won't.  ~ jan

Must See TV.... Betty White in The Lost Valentine, Sunday January 30th, on the Hallmark Channel

What goes around, comes around...

The year was 1975, the month was September.  How do I know? Oh, this is monumental, ladies.  Let's see, the exact date would have been September 23rd.  I had just brought Ryan home from the hospital, and these were my pre-pregnancy jeans.  Yes, these jeans, these exact same jeans, are the ones I had in 1975. complete with the stitching down the front and the hem.

It's monumental because the day after I brought him home, I was actually able to put these on and zip them.  Unreal huh?  I only gained sixteen pounds with that pregnancy, but before you go getting all impressed, you have to remember that I never got back into my pre-pregnancy jeans after I had John and when I got "preggo" with Ry, I knew I had better watch it or I would be "el lardo" after he was born.

And the size on these bad boys - a 12, I was never a skinny minnie, but let me tell you when these jeans fit me three days post delivery, I was soooooo thrilled! And even though I tell myself I still wear size 12 jeans, we all know better.  Yeah, the tag says a 12, but those low rider jeans are very forgiving.  If I had to put on a pair with a high waist, no telling what size I would wear with this thick thru the middle post-menopausal body.  I would probably run screaming from the dressing room, yelling "nooooooooooooooooo wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy" at the top of my lungs.

And now they're popular again.  These are from the Gap, $79 - now if I were Nisha, I would still have my old ones in the closet, but of course mine have been gone for years.

And no, I have no desire to buy them again.  Well, maybe if I lost twenty pounds, just for old times sake. ;o)

What is it about The Barefoot Contessa

Why does this woman intrigue me?  I think it's believability.  She's not a twig, she's a real person with a real body, and a lifelong love, Jeffrey.  I just like her, period.  I tape her and watch her while I'm sitting at the computer.

Just look at that face.  Wouldn't you love to sit at her table and eat her food.

I seldom make any of her recipes, however.  It's a shame, but I guess when it comes to cooking I'm more of a Paula Deen type.  Did I just say that?  Surely that didn't come outta my mouth.  Ask me about it, and I'll deny, deny, deny. ;o)

I know, I know, at least it's not snow.

Does fleece last forever?

It’s chilly today, I pulled on a fleece vest from my closet, and I started thinking about how long I’ve had it.  I’ve got several pieces of fleece, and some of it I must have had for ten years, and it looks the same now as it did when I bought it.

Are all of you aware that fleece is made from plastic bottles?  I guess that’s why it lasts so long, but I’m getting really tired of a lot of this, I’m not sure I like the idea that it lasts for-ever.

It’s a gray, damp day in Heavensville.  I’m dreaming of spring bulbs, the ones that my friend Trish and I vowed to plant in November and promptly forgot about.  No crocus peeking their head thru the snow for me this spring, no daffy’s to brighten my walk and no bright colored  tulips either. Drats, how did we forget?  Cause we’re older than dirt, that’s why.  Grrrrr

Where’s Maggie…

This picture quality is so bad, I took it with my cellphone and it was dark.  Maggie Moo buries her little body amongst her toys and naps, you can barely tell where she is.  Drats, I wish this were a better image!