Lack of Sleep and the Internet

Well life is looking up as I mentioned yesterday. I think I am still happy about all of this that I am thinking further than I should… and thus not sleeping very well. I search for some more personal finance information last night. I have some links to some PF blogs and sites that I think are worth reading.

Some Tips to save your Pennies

• The Simple Dollar – This site has some of the best advice and ideas to save that I have read so far. I hope that all you can learn as much as I am with this Blog!
  
  • The Simple Dollar » 100 Things to Do During a Money Free Weekend – I intend to use many more of these… Save more = better future!
    
  • The Simple Dollar » 31 Days to Fix Your Finances – Very Informative!
    
• Debt Tsunami: The Best Method For Paying Off Debt | Man Vs. Debt
  
• Track Your Spending: The First Battle In The War On Debt | Man Vs. Debt – This is tied in with the cash jars… You need to focus on how you are spending your money so tracking it with good old pen and paper is the best.
  
• Budgeting | Man Vs. Debt
  
• PlainCents — Financial, debt, and personal budget help resources
  
• gailvazoxlade.com – I love her show on Slice “Till Debt do us Part”. I really feel that I should instill the Cash Jar system.
  
  • Student Loans « gailvazoxlade.com – Some info about Student Loans
    
  • Gail’s Guide to Building a Budget – Some great tips!!
    
  • Gail’s Interactive Budget Worksheet – I like her worksheet! Very easy to follow!
    

This is all part of my whole life challenge… Well I must say it is not really a challenge as more of a revamp. I made a list of personal goals in Janurary and I am happy to say I am making progress at witling them down.

Finally a JOB for Little Miss

Well there was some happiness for me today! I have a JOB! I went back and had talked to my old boss and she said she was really looking for someone! Basically begged me to come back! I didn’t make myself look to desperate but of course I said YES!! So Little Miss has a job… maybe the bad stuff is starting to get pushed out!! Bring me the money! Soon I will have some extra cash – with it I intend to purchase some new supplies and start making things that I can sell on etsy or too friends/family. Plus I thought this would be a good time to start creating some gifts for birthdays and Christmas!

Plus I plan to add to my Whole Life Challenge some money challenges… I want to learn more about finances and saving!!

Here are my goals (regarding the money)

1. MAKE A BUDGET ( I will update you on this)
   
2. Save more MONEY
   
3. Make more Cash on the side. Do something to earn more
   
4. Learn to evaluate the NEEDs from the WANTs
   

Update to Original Whole Life Challenge – I have lost almost 10lb

Sporty Little Miss

Oh I almost forgot to mention! I am sporty too… I went out the other day and hit a bucket of golf balls with my dad!! It was for daddy’s day! We enjoyed the time!

Update of Little Miss

Life has been hectic! I am trying to find a new job! Yet these days with the recession there are not a lot of employers hiring! I have been neglecting my crafts due to time and being busy with life. I have been reading all the wonderful blogs. I do recommend using Google Reader – its great for sorting your blogs and keeping up to date.

I am hoping to get back into the crafts soon!! I am feeling the knitting bug coming on. I was looking at some new books at Chapters.

I have been working hard toward my Whole Life Challenge! I have managed to lose 10 lbs!! I am very happy with my progress! I think that it has had a lot to do with drinking less pop and when I say less I mean… maybe 1 can of pop a week if that! There have been some times where I have gone 2 weeks without it! Also I have been eating a lot of fruit and looking at healthier options. I have been reading many healthy blogs – I need to figure out how to export my Google Reader to show all the blogs I am enjoying.

Surfing the blog world now! May find something fun to post about… I usually do!

New Craft Alert – Homemade Books

Well today has been a super stressfull day.  Today is Curly’s older brother birthday so I was voluntold to make potatoe salad!  Which was delicious might I add!  I managed to make it all in about 45minutes! The BBQ party went very well!  But my day at work – oh my goodness!  I could have strangled someone!! I need a NEW JOB!!

ALTHOUGH, on the flipside, I am not relaxing and surfing the blogosphere.  I went surfing the tag surfer on wordpress, and found a new blog to read )  PaperKitty.  The post caught my eye… *NEW CRAFT ALERT* (lol) I have decided to make Paper bound books.  Well to be honest I hate the daily planners that you cna buy from staples so I am going to make my own.  So in my search I have found some new links for book binding.

• Paper Kitty
• Bookbinding Etsy Street Team
• The Art of the Book
• Paperseed
• notebookism
• Handbound Weekly
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog
• Blue Roof Designs – Adventures in Bookbinding
• How to Make a Flag Book
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Getting Started
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Paper Grain
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Pamphlet Tutorial
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Chopstick Notebook
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Secret Fold Notebook Tutorial
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Making Paste
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Making Paste Paper
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Origami Water Lily Tutorial
• My Handbound Books – Bookbinding Blog: Bookbinding 101 – Water Lily Book Tutorial
• Tutorials & Reference || The Book Arts Web SD10 – About Paper Grain

Enjoy these links! Please let me know if you have found other!  I am going to go to a pretty paper store tomorrow and see what I like.  Plus I think I might make a mini one tonight… I will take pictures and post them later!

Whole Life Challenge Update 2

I have been making an honest effort to not drink pop!  Last week I had pop on the weekend but not durring the week. Where as the goal for this week is no pop at all! I have been subsituting pop with lots of water and well VitaminWater!  I have tried the Restore and today I got the XXX.  They are both delicious!!

Plus on some of the blogs I have been reading, both Jenna and Kath talk about Amazing Greens.  Guess what I saw today! The actual product, I was excited to see this because I am here in Canada.  It was fairly expensive!  I am still reading up on it, I want to do my due diligence to research it.

Whole Challenge Update 1

Well to keep you all updated!  I have managed to go Monday to Friday popless… I have made an exception I can have one pop a week.  I did today with lunch!! I am happy with my ability to stop drinking empty calories.  I have been drink alot more juice and water.  I have had a couple teas for the caffine but I only put 2 sugar (not nearly as many as you find in coke or pepsi).  Did you know: * One can of coke contains nearly 10 teaspoons of sugar or the entire daily recommended amount of calories from sugar!!! Thats a crap load! Drink less pop & drink more water- CHECK

I have not been doing my yoga *slaps hand* I know I have to get into that! Tomorrow I am going to go get my mat from storage and make a post-it stick and put it on my laptop – DID YOU DO YOUR YOGA!! Plus I am looking for a good yoga DVD. Yoga every day – no check yet

Eating healthier! CHECK! I have been eating smaller poritions and trying to snack less.  But when I have snacked it has been peanut butter on 1/2 bagel or rice thins.  I even have had one apple a day (for monday to friday).  My hunnie, Curly has packed my lunch and thus the Apples! Thanks Babe.

** I will continue on my whole life challenge **

Whole Life Challenge

As I have mentioned at the beginning of June I am currently trying to revamp my life.  Making healthier choices and returning to all things that make me happy.  Well while reading blogs I managaged to get all the way to The Whole Life Challenge.  Maggie had the great idea to make her healthy life choices a challenge – agian I pledge to stick to the whole life challenge for the (2 weeks as stated – yet it will hopefully stik and be a life change).

Here is the Challenge (copied from Maggie – Link above)

The Whole Life Challenge starts tomorrow, Wednesday June 17th 2009 (I changed the date to be current for me)!  Let’s try to do it for two weeks.  If we like it, we can continue on through the end of June.  Feel free to join at any time.  Here are the options (remember, you only have to pick one for each day, but you can do more):

1. Yoga every day (at least 10 minutes)
2. Walking every day (at least 10 minutes)
3. New meals each week (at least 1 *new* recipe each week – can be for lunch or dinner; this can be a recipe that you make, or a meal that you eat out that you’ve never had before; preferably more than 1 each week!)
4. Eating a big enough dinner so that I don’t need to snack before bedtime (aiiii, this is the hardest one!)
5. Going organic for greens…
6. So that I can eat a nourishing bowl of green oats each day! (any variation of “green” is good here – green smoothie, green oat bran, green oatmeal, green anything!)
7. Pick your own! Just let me know what you want to try to do for 2 weeks.  I’ll post about it and link back to you if you have a blog.

* I will add some of my own ideas, plus there are some already listed in older posts*

Update:

1.  Cut out pop! Drink more water and juices. – I have been drinking too much pop for 15 years or more and I need too cut it out!

2.  Yoga – I habe always loved doing it and I am having lower back issues from work so I am going to try and strenghen my back.  Plus I miss the workout.

3. Veggies - Eat more veggies!

Sticks and String

I would say its been a long while since I have had my knitting needles and yarn… Curly and I last friday went and cleaned up my storage unit.  I was looking through some of the stuff and things I didn’t need I tossed.  But in the unorganized jumble I found my yarn, needles, roving and my spindle.

I picked up my KnitPick circular needles and some  yarn and just stared at it.  It was unknown to me.  I felt like all the yarn-y things I had taught myself had gotten pushed out or  filed somewhere deep in my brain.  I will be doing my best to look for it.  I know that before my knitting hiatus I had wanted to make a pair of socks.  Or atleast one sock… so that is my current knitting goal.

I will get back to photographing my ideas and progress soon.  I always like

Maple Pecan Tart to Guerrilla Gardening

Earlier today Curly (my hunnie) asked me to make a dessert for his parents.  So we were looking on the Foodtv.ca and I found the Maple Pecan Tart recipe.  From there we rewrote it out went to the Metro got the ingredients and made the tart!  It was good! Note:  coke the tart for 35-40 minutes otherwise it does set properly.  While waiting for it to cook I was looking at the site, and noticed the banner for the 100 Mile Challenge (Food Network Canada Show),  I had wanted to do this before yet always got sidetracked.  This show is based on the book 100 Mile Diet, there is a site for that too.  Well with some further research I have found a whole slew of wicked sites/blogs that have great ideas.

While surfing the sites related to the show… I saw many neat things that I am going to start doing:

• Eat Locally (of course) I have already looked up the places within 100 miles of my home.
• I also found site that are related to CSA or Community Supported Agriculture in Ontario.  These are farms that will provide you with boxes of fresh fruits and veggies every week.  I have looked at the the prices and for my area they seem reasonable.  Let me know what you think.  When I get into my new apartment (which I have not found yet), I think this is something I might get into.
• Guerrilla Gardening?? Yes I said that too… what is it? Well Guerrilla Gardening is where local people spread seeds or start gardens in places where you would not think to see or find one.  These Guerrilla Gardeners have ideas like Seed Bombs.  I have decided to on the weekend make some… and carry some with me to beautify the urban space.

So researching a tart recipe led me to a new vision and new ideas for eating better.  I hope you see the path that I took and maybe you will join me in Greening the areas!