Miscellaneous

Thoughts for a Thursday

/ Sheila / 4 Comments

So I told you about my new favorite site, Pinterest? It is wonderful! One of my favorite things about the site is that everything you see is shown as an image, so you can literally see at a glance if the posted item is of interest, raises your curiosity, starts your taste buds watering, or brings a smile to your face. The site showcases the items “pinned” to virtual bulletin boards by site members. The whole thing is free, fun, and a great way to collect ideas, quotes, inspiration, recipes…whatever you’re looking for. I highly recommend it as the most fun way to stash “next” ideas!

So for today, a few fun quotes, gathered from the bounty available through Pinterest:

A smile is the most beautiful curve on a woman’s body.
We never really grow up. We only learn how to act in public.
Lighthouses don’t go running all over an island looking for boats to save; they just stand there shining.
Go the extra mile. It’s never crowded.
Dear Math, I am not a therapist. Solve your own problems.
Rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life. {J.K. Rowling}
May the bridges I burn light the way.

Check it out for yourself! Enjoy!

Well at least I’m not that bad…

/ Sheila / Leave a comment

This is a funny take on addiction to social media. I have to admit I keep my smart phone handy and I like to stay connected. But hey, I gave up TV, doesn’t that count for something?!

Enjoy!

Things to celebrate this week

/ Sheila / 2 Comments

Friday…let the weekend begin!

This week we have had more than 8.5 inches of rain. And that’s just through Wednesday! Now that’s a rainforest!

So, I spend a LOT of time indoors. Here are some highlights for the week:

~ I spent some time looking for online work opportunities. Let me tell you…if you have a project, or want to find work, there is work out there! That’s the good news. The bad news is: you have to bid for it, look for it, sign up for it…in other words, do your homework! But if you’re interested, check out these sites: Elance and Freelancer.

~ I won an award! Another blogger gave me a “Versatile Blogger Award!” Thank you Jeff. Find Jeff here. In turn, I’ll need to recognize some other blogs and share the award myself…kind of a “pay it forward” thing. I’m sorry to say I had this opportunity once before and I dropped the ball. But not again! (Find my friend MJ, who graciously passed this to me in June here.) Look for a list of blogs I recommend shortly!

~ The 2011 Alaska state Permanent Fund Distribution payout was announced on Tuesday. Every man, woman, and child who has lived in Alaska more than a year and meets residency requirements will receive $1,174 in October, Alaska’s way of saying thanks to all the hearty souls who live here! See Wikipedia. The amount varies from year to year. Though it seems like a lot of money, if you fly out once or twice in a year, you’ll deplete this amount and then some. It is a benefit across the state though. You see all sorts of ads for PFD sales this time of year.

~ Check out Pinterest. This is a site that allow you to pin things you find on line, creating virtual bulletin boards. I’m only getting started, so I don’t even know the full potential of it yet, but it looks like a great way to collect ideas, color swatches, you name it, and save for a project or reference.

~ Good stuff! Caramelized onions! This looks so yummy! Whether you make this to give as a gift, or put a jar in the fridge for an easy addition to your own meal prep, this is a great idea. Simple, inexpensive, and best of all, make ahead and enjoy on pizza or add to roasting meat and veggies, or a grilled sandwich. Can’t wait to give this a try. Love the crock pot!

Enjoy the weekend!

Now I know: I’m a conjunction

/ Sheila / 7 Comments

Here’s a fun piece, heard this recently at a meeting. Turns out I’m a conjunction. See where you fit in the parts of speech.

People
 

People play roles in society in the same way that words play roles in sentences.
Some people are nouns.  They retain their identity no matter where they are or what they’re doing.

Some are prepositions.  They are trendsetters.

Some are verbs.  Their identity comes from what they do.

Some are adverbs.  They get their kicks by being around or witnessing the action.

Others are adjectives.  Their identity depends on who they are around or what organization they belong to.

Some are pronouns.  They have no identity of their own; they just mirror the styles and beliefs of others.

Some are conjunctions.  They are the peacemakers who bring other people together.

Some are articles.  Their identity is based on what they own.

Some are interjections; always interfering in other people’s business.

And some are exclamations.  They don’t accomplish a whole lot, but they make a lot of noise doing it!
 
~Richard Showstack

With a capital “N”

/ Sheila / 4 Comments

The subject for today, ladies and gentlemen, is passwords. I’ve grown quite a list over the years, and as long as I have my trusty planner in hand, I’m good. That’s where I keep my log of who’s who, and who I am on each site I frequent. I can see changes in pets, addresses, vacation sites, and a few other patterns when I look at my login history.

Have you had a password rejected because it’s not secure enough? I love to see the little gauge showing that my selected password is strong. I get miffed when my choice is rebuffed as weak, and even more miffed if I have to change it or add to it. I particularly hate having to put numbers or characters in my passwords. At work, there’s this really annoying requirement that you change your password every couple of months, and you can’t just bounce between the same two words, switiching back and forth. There are also layers of passwords. There’s the login combination to get into the system initially, then to get into some specific programs, there’s another login required, another user id and password to remember. Did I mention this is annoying?

Like a lot of people, I recycle my choices. If you ever crack one of my accounts open, you’ll have the key to about 95% of my logins. But that’s just a risk I’ll have to take. At least I’m down to four or five combinations. If I can’t remember what I used, there’s a good chance I’ll figure it out before I get locked out for multiple failed attempts.

My husband calls to me from the living room. I’m deep in kitchen world, mixing up banana bread. He needs to know my password for a website. I tell him it’s one of our pet names. I wait. I know what comes next. “Is that with a capital ‘N’?” Yes. The answer is yes. Unless a site won’t allow capitals, I always use them if I’m creating a password from a name.

I know what comes next. Why do I make it hard on myself? Who uses capitals in passwords? Sorry, can’t help it. It’s like writing an email and not using punctuation. I have these things built into my head, and they won’t leave me alone. If I type a name, it’s going to be capitalized. You’d think by now he would know that. Hey, I figure if I’m one of the few people using capitals, it adds to my online security.

Well, security can be over-rated. I don’t always have my planner with me, and if my login is too secure, I’ll have to go through the whole “forgot my password” game…log in, admit that I lost or forgot or gave away this VERY IMPORTANT PIECE OF PERSONAL INFORMATION, and then wait to get the reset link emailed. And then reset myself, which I already know is going to be a variation on the theme I’ve had established for some years now…so really, do we have to go through all of that? Can’t we just all click a button in the registration process that swears us to absolute best behavior when browsing internet sites? Really, is there anyone out there so bored with their own life that they need to see my buying history or my bank account? (Neither is interesting, trust me on this.)

But no, even though credit card companies promise to make it easy on the customer if ever someone illegally lifts someone else’s card number and goes on a spending spree, we’re still scared. So we all have passords, logins, etc., etc., etc., to protect us online. Problem is, sometimes I’m the one that’s kept out, inconvenienced, irritated, frustrated, and finally, embarrassed if I have to acknowledge to another human being out there in support world that I can’t remember my password, or, even more shocking, was careless with it!

At work, there’s a little reminder message that pops up when I’m in a secure program. It reminds me to NEVER share my login information with anyone. As if! Someone is waiting to haul me to JAIL if I do that. I work in a hospital, and patient records are right up there with sacred writings. I might give up my personal information with the right persuasion. But you’re not going to pry the work goods out of me.

Passwords…private, deeply personal, a reflection of what’s important to us…or what we can remember from day to day…humorous, playful, random, repetitive, bizarre…well, mine begin with capitals, whatever else they may be. Just remember that, if you’re every trying to crack my code.

Is this someone you know?

/ Sheila / 3 Comments

A friend shared this quote with me recently: “Often wrong, never in doubt.” No, no, it wasn’t about me. It was just shared with me. I’m too often in doubt for this to ever apply to me. But I immediately thought of a few acquaintances who should have this for their personal motto. Bet you’ve known a few of these folk too.

Well, a little humor on a Friday is a good thing…so next time you’re with someone who knows all, you can think of this and enjoy a little smile to yourself. Happy Friday!

Words I like to say

/ Sheila / 6 Comments

Haboob. Tittabawassee. Titicaca. Plethora. Williwaw. Superfluity.

Go ahead. Look ’em up. They’re all legitimate words or place names.

Try saying these words yourself. They roll off your tongue, and you may find yourself repeating them for the sheer fun of it.

Even better than just saying them to yourself, try working them into casual conversation. Try working all of them into a conversation with the same person. I’m starting to giggle thinking about that one.

Can you tell it was a long cool summer here?

My own little lake

/ Sheila / 2 Comments

Rain again this past weekend. When I say it rained, I don’t mean we had a shower. No, we had a deluge. AGAIN. For all those people in Texas who need rain…believe me, I would send you days of the stuff if I could.
 
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I have a small lake in my basement. This isn’t a new thing. The house was built in 1920 and has been remodeled over the years, so this problem has been addressed before, by others. But never fixed, apparently. When we have heavy rain, we get seeping ground water that comes up through fine cracks in the concrete floor. Not really a problem, doesn’t seem to do any harm. But I’m tired of sweeping out the lake on a regular basis, and I keep wondering what would happen if we had a potential buyer checking us out on a day that the basement floor is liquid. Not an easy thing, I’m thinking, to reassure someone that the water only rises to a certain point and then recedes.
 
Saturday we had a contractor come over to give us ideas about effective treatment. Install a sump pump, redirect one of the downspouts behind the house, put a drain in the basement floor with a collection box…oh, all can be done for the small sum of about $2,000. And it is a small sum, as these types of repairs go. But you never know WHAT you may run into when you begin these things, so we are to understand that $2,000 is the least we’re looking at. Could be higher. Much higher.
 
I’m thinking these days of how I can turn anything and everything to income. Maybe I can write about the perils of owning a house that’s almost 100 years old. Maybe I can give advice to other basement/lake owners. Maybe I can become an expert on sump pumps. I don’t know. All I know is that I’m coming to a cliff in a few months, one that I’m willingly walking toward, and I’m jumping off without reliable income. AND I have this little basement issue. What to do, what to do!
 
Fortunately Rob will pay for the basement. In our universe, he usually covers these types of things. The bigger bills don’t typically come my way. But it does make me think a bit.
 
Really, I expect to be ok. I’m having fun learning about portable and alternative income sources. I’ve already committed to relief work at the hospital, and I’m thinking about entrepreneurial options, everything from baking to editing to whatever else I stumble on. I’m excited to try my wings, and if I grow them on the way down, as the saying goes, that just makes it all the more fun.
 
So this week, I’m going to become an expert on basement drainage. I think the contractor’s coming over tomorrow to get started, and if you see a post or two about the intricacies of pipes, collection boxes and drains, you’ll know why. At least my lake should soon be gone.
 
 

Goodbye white shoes, I hardly wore you

/ Sheila / 5 Comments

September, Labor Day weekend, and my Southern upbringing has kicked in. I wouldn’t be caught dead from now until next Memorial Day in white shoes. Just.not.done. At least for my generation. (Maybe this is more about my age than where I was raised…or both? I’ll have to get back to you on that.)

Mind you, I have no idea where this fashion dictum came from, or how it became so firmly impressed on my young self. All I know is that to violate this rule was taboo in my youth, and whether or not it matters to the fashion police now (if it ever did), I’m obligated to live with this for the rest of my life. You’d think it was important or something. But if it is, I don’t know why.

But not knowing didn’t stop me from passing the white shoes rule on to my daughter. Really I expand this to summer clothes in general…the only possible exception being a tropical location where it’s always acceptable to wear white, whatever the season. (And who decided that? Another fashion mystery!)

Perhaps it’s fortunate for me that I live in a climate that actually encourages me to return to my September-to-May uniform of turtlenecks and heeled pumps. The summer slides are put away. They didn’t get too much wear-time this year anyway. Miserable summer season here. But the weather, at this point, is not the point: I couldn’t violate the calendar. Just can’t do it. My roots are showing!

There are things you leave behind when you move from one side of the country to another: regional produce, local customs, favorite eateries. Without any effort on my part, my Southern accent has mostly faded away from long years of disuse (although it revives a bit when I go back for a visit). But some things…the white shoes rule, for instance…follow me about from place to place, a passenger in my head, mostly forgotten, but somehow silently monitoring the calendar, and then, ca-ching, like my oven timer, a bell goes off internally to remind me of The Rule. The same thing will happen Memorial Day…my Southern self will wake up, reminding me, nudging me. Change of seasons, change of shoes.

Cash-free by design – how to do it

/ Sheila / 1 Comment

So, I’ve had a few people ask me if I really live cash free. And the answer is, almost. There are literally months that go by when I don’t touch real money, the most commonly recurring exception being the $5 fare for the airport ferry that I complained about a few weeks ago.
 
The follow up question is, how do you do it? Well, maybe the first question to ask yourself is, does it matter to you? If it doesn’t, if you’re one of those individuals who pays cash for everything, or has a hybrid approach of using cash, credit cards, debit cards, and checks…well, as long as your choices are working for you, great.
 
But if you’re curious about living a cash-free lifestyle, read on. I’ll give you my game plan.
 
First, as I said in a previous post (repeated here in case you’re not a regular reader of this fascinating and clever blog!), the primary reason I choose to be cash free is for the benefits I gain from savvy credit card use, and for the convenience of having virtually every purchase recorded, tracked, verified, and paid through one source. Now don’t go all Dave Ramsey on me, this ONLY works if you are disciplined and pay attention to your money. If you can’t pay your monthly balance IN FULL every month that rolls around, or if you don’t keep up with what you spend throughout the month, this will not be a good thing in your life, and you’ll find yourself going into credit card debt. I would never encourage anyone to do that.
 
Second, I truly feel more in control with a credit card than I do with cash. I know that is exactly opposite the general belief of many financial planners, but I am not good at managing cash. It just slips through my fingers. So I would not want my financial management to be cash-based. If I have to think about paying with a credit card, I am less impulsive. Avoiding cash helps me refrain from small purchases that add up for my money flow, as well as my diet, as food and coffee/soda purchases would be the primary way I would fritter cash away if I used it. Not that I don’t eat out, or have a coffee stop now and then, but when I do, I pay with my card, or my coffee card.
 
My salary is direct-deposited to my bank, and I also have a couple of recurring payments debited from my bank, so even though a few things are not funneled through my credit card, neither do I have to write checks for these bills each month. But most of my monthly charges are billed to my card. When I pay my utility bill, or my fuel oil bill, when I used to pay college tuition, it all went on my card. Groceries go on my card. Haircuts and professional fees go on my card. I accumulate miles for the money I spend, and I find that to be the most useful payback in terms of credit card rewards. But that’s important to me because I live in a place that requires flying in and out (unless you have enough time to take a much slower ferry). And I sometimes use my miles to have family come up to visit. I like the flexibility of use I get with the mileage benefit. But for some, one of the cash back cards might be a better option.
 
So, I never have to cash or deposit my check, and other than a few checks I write for charitable organizations, everything else is either automatically debited or paid by swipe.
 
One of the things that I watch is the billing cycle each month. If I have a large purchase coming up, I sometimes purchase right after the card has cycled. It give me the full benefit of the next billing cycle to pay. One of my rules is that I can’t exceed in my monthly payments what I am able to pay in any given month. The goal is to NEVER have to take money from savings to pay monthly expenses. So in effect, my monthly income is my budget number each month. That number has to include transfers to savings, payments that are debited from my checking account, and the total amount due to my credit card for the month.
 
Other strategies for management by credit card: check your online balance often. I don’t check mine daily, although if I’m out of town and spending freely, I tend to check more frequently just to verify that charges are added appropriately. I also keep a list of my charges each month in my planner, and I log these at the end of the day when I review any receipts I have in my purse. It’s another way to insure that I don’t lose track of what I’m spending. It also gives me a back up tally in case I can’t access my digital account. My mom debits what she charges on her credit card from her check book register as she charges, so that she’s already debited the amount from her account (on paper). Using that system, when it’s time to make your monthly payment, you’re already reconciled with your checking account, albeit in incremental amounts. You just have to make your online payment for the full sum due.
 
I have one primary credit card that I use, so I don’t dilute my mile accumulation factor, and also to keep life simple. One card to charge with, one to keep track of, one to pay. I do have a couple of back up cards just in case I lose my primary card, or in case of theft. I don’t want to be without options if life happens on the way to the grocery. But about the only time I use a different card (since I’ve experienced neither loss nor theft) is at a big box store that prefers American Express to Visa.
 
If you have concerns about online banking, let me say that I’ve been doing it for years now, and I have not had a bad experience yet. I use my credit card company’s bill pay service to make my monthly payment digitally, and it works like a charm. I particularly like that I can pay it when I want (as long as it is by the date required to avoid interest). So if I choose to pay early, pay twice a month, schedule a payment to occur when I’m traveling, it’s like clockwork. I find it particularly helpful as mail in Alaska can sometimes be unpredictable. Mail goes out and comes in, but if you’re dependent on getting an actual check to a physical location in the lower 48, you may have late charges if you’ve run close to the due date. No offense to the post office intended, but length of delivery times can be variable from this state.
 
So, think about your financial strategy with regard to monthly expenses. I’d be interested to hear what others have found works for them. This is pretty simple for me, and these days, simple, digital, convenient…that’s what I want.