Remember the Milk

I may have just eliminated my need for a paper planner!  I have had a paper planner for as long as I can remember.  All through out middle school up through college my favorite part of August (other than my birthday) was picking out a new planner!!

Now that I am a home manager the need for a planner is even bigger.  So far I have depended on Google Calendar, my iPad, and a paper planner to stay organized.  I've tried to use larger planner systems, but it never quite worked out.  The problem has been I don't always have my iPad and I don't always have my paper planner to write things down in.  Enter the iPhone!  Verizon recently changed their data plan and I was able to finally buy an iPhone with some left over Christmas money that was collecting dust.  Now my Google Calendar is ALWAYS with me :)

Last week my sister was telling me about a list app that she was enjoying and I remembered that Simple Mom had suggested Remember the Milk years ago.  I decided to try it again since it now has an iPhone and iPad app.  It has been wonderful!  I decided to splurge and get a pro account so that my lists would always be synced across my devices, but this is definitely not necessary.

I love this task manager for a couple of reasons:

• you can organize tasks by lists.  So far I have: Blog posts to write, Evening Routine, Gift Ideas, Home Management, Kids, Money Matters, Morning Routine, School, Study, and Tidy Up Tuesday.  There are also two default lists of "Inbox" for routines you email yourself (or Siri sets up for you) and "Sent" which I think is used for tasks you share with others.
• you can use shortcuts to set up when a list is due, priority, when it repeats, where it takes place, and to add tags.  Tags help you to sort your task based on subject.  I have a tag for computer tasks that I use to help me get things done while I'm at the computer.  You can also use tags to sort by tasks that you have for different children.  Here is the list of shortcuts:

          If you wanted to use these shortcuts it would type this in the "add a new task" section of the website:  "Call Betsy ^tomorrow !2 *weekly"  Then a new task will be created with all of the parameters you have specified.  You can also email this to your RTM account and it will set up the task for you.

• you can also set a task to repeat based on when it was last done instead of just when it was last due.  This is helpful for things like taking your vitamins.  You want to take them once a day, but if you forget them today you don't want to take two tomorrow.
• you can associate notes or a URL with each task.  I do my grocery shopping on Monday, so I have a reminder on Sunday night to do my meal planning.    I use the note feature to keep track of meals that I see during the week that I think would be interesting.   

Even if you don't have a smart phone remember the milk can send you text messages or email reminders when tasks are due.  I choose to do most of my household cleaning on Tuesday hence the list "Tidy up Tuesday" I have a morning and evening routine based on Tsh's book 52 projects to a simpler life.  She encouraged readers to choose 3 to 5 things you do every morning and every evening. this helps bring structure to an otherwise unstructured day.
 Here is a view of my current account:

I have just started using Tsh's suggestion of identifying three things a day that are your most important tasks and marking them priority 1 (orange in color).  I do not mark anything else with that priority so that each day I can choose three new things.

Please ask any other questions you have in the comments section.  I hope I've given a quick overview and have helped you get started with this great website!

RSS Reader

Sometime last year my friend Meg introduced me to a beautiful thing....an RSS reader.  Now, I consider myself a technical gal.  I like pretty much all things technology and I had heard of an RSS feed before.  I had seen the little RSS icon:

But what is it?  How do you use it?  Well, that my friends is what I'm about to tell you.  RSS stands for RDF site summary, but really it means updates from a website sent straight to your feed (we'll get to what a feed is in a minute).  I love to read multiple blogs.  I have friends who have blogs, but I also love blogs of people I don't know, but that have really interesting content.  An RSS feed allows you to receive all of the updates from all of the blogs that you like to read in one place.  Think of it like a subscription to all of your favorite blogs or websites.  Instead of having to search out new content from the places you like, all of the new updates are sent directly to you!

Where is this "place" that the updates are sent?  Most blogs will allow you to receive email updates, but what is neat about readers is that they do not clog up your email inbox.  Instead the updates are stored in a second location and you can read them at your leisure.  I am currently registered with Google Reader.  Google Reader is where I subscribe to all the different blogs that I like.  Anytime any of my favorite blogs posts something new the updates come straight to my reader.  Now, I can read these updates on any computer (since Google is internet based), but I choose to read them on my iPad using a free app called Mobile RSS.  This app downloads my recent updates to my iPad and allows me to read items in my feed even when I am not connected to the internet (score!).

If you like to read multiple blogs I really think using a reader can simply your life and cut down on the amount of time you just "poke" on the internet.  Once you are signed up with a reader service add the blogs you like by typing in the web addresses or just look for the RSS symbol above and subscribe!  Here is what the icon for Google reader looks like:
 
Do you use an RSS reader that isn't Mobile RSS or Google Reader?  I'd love to hear about the different readers that are out there.

Tot School

Since Ethan is staying home this year from preschool, I am picking up the slack by going through a preschool homeschooling curriculum with him.  I love the curriculum, but I was really looking for some new activities to do as we review letters A-D this week.  Enter TotSchool.  This site is a great resource by a homeschooling mom who thinks that for 2-3 year olds it may be too early for "preschool", but we can certainly learn a lot of cool things in "Tot School".  Today Ethan and I made these adorable animal letters:

Here is another page we did to review the letter A.  Betsy might recognize the fabric I used since I did not have "picnic" paper. 

You can find the complete alphabet lessons listed on this site.  Ethan just loved school this morning and kept asking, "Now what are we going to make?"

Using the Internet to shop for a camera

While researching for my most recent purchase, Philip's uncle recommended this site. It is great if you are shopping for any digital camera. My favorite portion of this site was the video review that is included in most camera reviews. It's hard to shop for the best camera when you can't pick them all up and see how they feel or really see how fast they focus, etc. In these video reviews a man shows you around each camera. In real time you can see how well the live view works, or how fast the camera can auto focus, etc. You even get to hear what 4 frames per second (or 7 frames) sounds like.

Camera Labs also has a tips site that I just discovered. The same guy that gives the camera "tours" at Camera Labs also hosts online workshops on dslrtips.com that can guide you through:

• How to blur action shots for speed
• How to get more in focus
• How to take perfect sunsets
• How to brighten your photos
• and many more...
  

The website also has a guide for lenses, accessories, etc.



The last website I mainly used when shopping for this camera was this side by side comparison site hosted by dpreview.com. From this site you can select all the cameras you think you are interested in and see a breakdown of how they compare in over 25 categories.


If you have any great Digital SLR sites, or just a photography tips site please share them in a comment!

Saving my bookmarks online!

Do you use delicious? When I first heard of it I didn't think anything of it, but now I have to admit that I am a delicious addict! Delicious is a way of storing your favorite bookmarks online. I first started using delicious to get rid of my Everyday Food magazines. I wanted the recipes out of them, but I don't want to store the magazines anymore. The good thing about their magazine is that 90-100% of the recipes are available for free online. I just bookmark the ones I had earmarked and then I am free to pass along the issue to the next lucky reader!

One online benefit is that I work on probably 3-5 different computers during an average work week. Instead of waiting till I get home to bookmark something, or worse, saving that one email for weeks until I'm at the right computer; now I just hit my "Bookmark on Delicious" button and, "BAM!" I can save a bookmark from wherever I am and access it later from any computer! After you save a link you can also see who else has it saved on delicious and then browse through their bookmark collections.

There are two other really great things about delicious. Number one is that you can share your bookmarks with other users on delicious. Betsy is in my delicious network and we can send each other bookmarks. Tags are the other great thing about delicious! Want to find a chocolate brownie recipe? If you are looking at my account you can just type in those tags and it will pull up all of my favorites.

You can see all of the tags I have used down at the bottom right hand side of this blog. If you are on Delicious please add me to your network!

Old Navy

So I like clothes, but I love cheap good looking clothes! That's where Old Navy comes in. I already knew to shop their sales and my friend Betsy gets killer deals on her boys clothes from their website. My husband also loves (and looks good in) all of thier mens polos and he even bought a nice wool jacket there this winter. I also in addicted to their simple, cheap, but durable flip flops (I already bought my two pairs for this season).

It even got better this morning because read over on a the diaper diaries that Old Navy puts out a weekly online flyer. In this flyer are "hidden" deals like 5,10,15, and 20% off an in-store purchase and get this, even $50-75 off of $100 purchase! To find them you have to scroll your mouse over the pictures and find places that your arrow to turn in to a clickable finger. The coupons go quick, by the time I checked there were only %off coupons left. If you want the 20% off coupon (and it is still available) watch for the green banner in the upper right hand box to scroll by and then click on it. I will be checking back every week in hopes that I get $100 worth of clothes for $25! You can even subscribe to the flyer down on the bottom left hand side and when you do you get an online coupon emailed to you. Happy Shopping!

Simple Mom

Betsy sent me a link last week to one of the coolest blogs/websites I have come across in a long time. Originally she sent it to me for her simplification ideas. Couldn't we all use a bit more simplification in our lives? Well, after probably 2 hours (and 10-20 tabs) I have found so many cool things on her site I just had to share it. Here are a few of the highlights:

• She has a book club and 2 of the 6 books for this year are ones that I have mentioned here on this blog as must-reads. I have posted a link to the book club on the right=>
• The thought of having a home management notebook really is just a brilliant idea. Big shot executives have planners, why do we think as housewives we would need any less? I have a planner for work, and honestly I never thought to use it for all parts of my life. Even if I thought of it I didn't execute that plan well until last week. It is still a work in progress but I'm getting there.
  
• The Daily Docket! I love planning out my day the night before and especially highlighting the Three Most Important Tasks. Identifying these and actually writing down what I want to get done at work everyday (and the times they should be done by) really keep me focused and at the end of the day I have accomplished so much more.
• I have to admit I am not a very good housewife. I don't really notice that things need dusting or mopping for that matter. But with my new Weekly Home Management checklist I know where to start. I have also started reading the Fly Lady's book and I think this will fit right in.
• Simple mom has also introduced me to the idea of storing all of my online recipes in one place. Tonight I made a del.icio.us cook book. Delicious is a social bookmarking site that allows you to keep all of your internet bookmarks in a web-based location so you can access them from anywhere in the world. This didn't seem so cool to me until I thought about it in light of all of my favorite online recipes. I have been looking for a way to purge my Everyday food collection because it is such a hassle to search through. Since all of thier recipes are online I can now save my favorites to delicious and pass on the magazines to someone else.
• Online menu planning is also a great idea. You know how I feel about my google calendar, it is great! What about using it to plan your weekly or monthly menu? Genius! Here is a picture of my google calendar with all of my options shown:
  The items shown in brown are my meals for next week!
  

Not all of the posts on simplemom are original (some are pulled in from other sites) but I continue to get inspiration from this collection of tips and tricks of being a mom, house manager, and wife.

Enjoy!

Good Reads

This site is so cool! Not only can you make a "wish list" for the books that you want to read, but you can also see what all your friends are reading too. This site has really helped my not buy books that I want to read in the future. Instead I just add them on to my "to read" shelf and they are saved forever. I love getting email updates of what my other friends are reading too.

Recently my friend Allison posted a list on her blog of all the books she read in the last year. I can't remember all the books I read last year so I just went on Good Reads and sorted my "read" shelf by date.

Christmas Cards

This post is in honor of Stephanie!


So, I've already mentioned how much I love shutterfly.com for their books and cards. This year when I sent out Christmas cards to everyone I put a sticker on the back (printed from the computer) that gave a little update for all of us and described what was in each picture. I know that I stole this idea from someone else, but I can't remember who it was! I just printed off a sheet of Avery 5163 labels and they fit right on the back of the cards. It is a neat way to personalize your cards without writing 75 personal letters. I know some folks do typed letters, but I thought this would be eaiser. Hopefully if you got a card from us you checked the back for more info!

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone!

Shutterfly.com, 5 Stars

About a year ago I had a few friends over to scrap book. I had never scrapbooked before but I figured I would give it a try since I had made 12 pages at a stamping night with my friend Michele. It was quite frankly a nightmare. My two friends had a blast, but I was left sitting there not knowing what picture to put where, what cute embellishments to use, or how I should trim my pictures down to make them look cute. Enter Shutterfly.com!

Shutterfly is perfect for perfectionists like me who want each page to look as cute as possible but don't have the creativity or craftiness to make it so. They have online scrapbooks already built that you just drag and drop pictures into. Then you can zoom the picture in or out depending on the size of the box. You can also add captions to the pictures. There are many different page layouts for each different themed book. As you work on your project (or finish one) you can share the project with your friends and family online and they can order copies for themselves.

Since the digital era have you noticed that you have less actual pictures around your house? One of Philip's great aunts gave us wise advice when Ethan was born. Her exact quote was, "When you are old and gray, you are going to want to be able to flip through an actual album, not sit in front of a computer screen." With Shutterfly you can order individual prints in a variety of sizes, or you can get a package plan and use up the prints over time. You can even order pictures to be printed at a local Target photo studio.

What I also (most recently) love about Shutterfly is that this summer they gave away 15 4x6" prints for every one print you uploaded for up to 75 free prints a week for about 4 weeks. Philip and I racked up over 200 free prints this summer and now we are having a hard time "spending" them all!

My Favorite Blogs!!

My friend Betsy (who I mention often on this blog) has given me a blog award! Wow, I'm honored! I read a whole list of blogs every week but, here are my top three for moms:

1. JonZReaTom - My friend Allison had quads two years ago. She is a christian mom who we could all learn a lot from. Her kiddlets are a year older than Ethan so it is fun to get a glimpse into my future (big kid beds, etc.).
   
2. full tummies is Betsy's food blog. Every Tuesday for the last couple of weeks she has posted an entire week's menu for her three toddlers. Talk about tons of ideas! She also features great recipes for the whole family.
   
3. GoodyBlog - This is Parent's magazine's blog. Although they sometimes express ideas that I do not agree with (like the entry on Palin), they do find cool websites, crafts, and products.

Thanks again Betsy!

Amazon.com: 5 Stars

So I'm sure everyone knows about this great book seller, their cheap prices and even cheaper shipping! But, did you know you can make a wish list for your little one(s)? Or add any product to this list, even if it is not sold by amazon? You can! After a librarian came to talk to our MOPS group I made Ethan a book wishlist.

Now it contains everything from toys to diapers. It is perfect for Christmas and Birthday time because people can see what toys or books he does not have. To set it up all you need is an amazon account and the instructions are under "Your Lists".

Happy Wishing!

Google (part 2): 5 Stars

SNL coined the phrase: "Google Maps is the best!" And I have to say, I agree with them. Google maps is so much better than your average map search engine. I find it to be the most accurate of all the map search engines including estimated travel time. Now you can even get travel time if you plan on walking! You can also get directions to several different locations at once. I work for the school system and it is very helpful to know the most direct route to travel from my house, to Karns Elementary, then to Powell High, and finally to the Sarah Simpson Teacher Center. There are now thousands of street view pictures which are very helpful if you are traveling to a location for the first time.

Google Maps also offers several features that I don't use very often such as live traffic feeds, terrain views, uploaded picture links, wikipedia links, and satellite views.

What is there left to say other than, "Google Maps is the best!"

Google (part 1): 5 Stars

So, the other day my sister and I were joking about how Google runs our lives but we are happier because of it. This post is just part one of my shining review of google products.

The first, the only: Of course they have arguably the best search engine on the internet today. In addition to being a normal search engine there are several other things that google.com can do. You can search inside websites by going to the advanced search page. Most websites that do have a search option aren't worth the click it takes to access them so I use google instead. It even does unit conversions. Just type in the conversion you need like, how many pints in 5 gallons, and it comes back with the answer (40)!



Email like you've never seen it before: Gmail is awesome! A Gmail account is like any other email account, only better. Much better. Space is one the neat things about gmail, each user has 6970 MB. That pretty much means you don't ever have to throw an email away, ever!

My favorite part about gmail is the concept of conversations. If you get an email about an upcoming family reunion and people reply back (without changing the subject of the email) all of these emails appear together as a conversation. For instance I sent out a prayer request to 20 people each time I got a reply it did not appear as a different line in my inbox, instead all of the replies are grouped together in the "prayer request" conversation. Very cool.

Other than conversations, labels are my favorite thing about gmail. Instead of putting your emails into folders you can just tag emails with different labels. Then you can use the labels as a way to quickly sort and store emails.

There are too many features for me to list/review them all here but here is just a few of the others that I had to mention:

• Emailing from different accounts: I can write an email in gmail but make it look like I sent it from my work email.
• Chat: Most school and work routers block chat, but not so with gmail chat. Somehow it hides the chat inside the browsers window and you can practically chat from anywhere.
  
• AIM: When signed into gmail chat I am also signed into my AIM account. That way I can chat with people who are just on aim and don't have gmail chat.
• Documents: Gmail can open excel, word, powerpoint, etc. It stores them online and you can share them with other gmail users.
  
• Calendar: Not only can I see my calendar, but I can see my husband's, my sister's, and I even made one for my son to keep track of his childcare during the week.
• And much more!

So needless to say, I love gmail and if you want an account just let me know and I'll invite you!

Free 411: So we don't have a land line and to dial 411 from a cell phone it costs over $2.00 a call. But not anymore! Not since I have discovered Goog411. This is a free 411 service that connects you to your buisness of choice. I feel like I have a national phone book in my cell phone now! "What time does the zoo open?" was a recent question my friend posed. "I don't know, but I can find out!" I replied. Two minutes later I was connected to the zoo and listening to their hours, all for free! Simply too cool.

There are several other things about google that I love, but I'll save those for another post.