How Much Do You Waste?

So I took the Quicken Spare Change Challenge. I found out that I waste about $428 each month!! Well, that's assuming that the Challenge correctly calculated the answers to a survey I took today. Go to quicken.intuit.com or click on the linke above to take the Spare Change Challenge and see how much you might be wasting.
Just a warning, though some of the questions may not be applicable to your situation, but there isn't a "n/a" button for the question, just answer the best you can.

T.S. Hanna Aftermath

Thought I'd share some pictures of our property in the wake of Tropical Storm Hanna. We had an awful lot of yard debris--leaves, twigs, small & medium branches.

My Parks' Whopper tomato plant was knocked over. I had to drain the water out of the planter then reset the stake to stand it upright. We forgot to put the cover back on the sandbox, so it's turned into a pond for tadpoles. We had put a tarp on top of our gazebo, and the hurricane shredded it. That's pretty much all the damage that was sustained, thankfully!

Alive & Well

So if you're wondering, yes we survived T.S. Hanna. The storm woke me up about 6am this morning when it got to our areas. Talk about a lot of wind and rain. Then the rain stopped but the wind kept coming and coming. Daniel's kiddie pool, which was only about 1/4 full of water, was filled up nearly to the top with rain water. We have lots of leaves, twigs and small tree branches scattered all about our yard. Our power went out at 6:45am. After spending a couple of hours being bored this morning, we decided to head into Goldsboro and do some shopping. Thankfully, the power had been restored by the time we got home this evening. So all is well that ends well!

Hanna Heads Home

So Hanna is a tropical storm, not a hurricane...still has lots of wind & rain. Schools are all letting out early today. Daniel's preschool closes at 11am, and Raelee's day care closes at 12:30pm. Joshua decided to stay home today so he can pick up the kids from school. I'm so glad that he owns his own business and can be so flexible with his hours!! Even Cooper Bussmann, where I work, is shutting down early. As a manufacturing facility, we just don't shut down without a valid reason. Second shift has been canceled for this evening, and there will not be any work this weekend. Office personnel can leave early but cannot stay past 5pm. I'm glad that our plant manager is taking the T.S. warning seriously. The original plan as of yesterday afternoon was to keep the plant open; business as usual on Friday. There were a couple assembly departments that were supposed to work Saturday as well. That won't happen now, thankfully.

Hurricane Hanna's A-Coming

So the weather forecast is that Hurricane Hanna will be coming sometime Friday night. Wayne County Public Schools are closing at 12pm on Friday afternoon. That by itself doesn't affect our family. However, because the public schools are closing early, Raelee's Kinder Kottage is closing at 12:30pm, and Daniel's Protestant Preschool & Kindergarten is closing at 11:00am. Joshua has decided to stay home for the day so he can pick the kids up at school closure time. Governor Easley or someone requested that all public schools in Eastern NC close early, "to give parents time to prepare for the hurricane" Friday evening. I guess if you already have your food storage, 72-hour kits, emergency contact #'s, and everything else, then you don't have to worry about spending Friday evening getting prepared!! The only thing I plan on doing Friday evening is unplugging my computer. Our house was struck by lightning a few weeks ago, and it messed up my PC slightly (I cannot plug in directly to the wireless router any longer; I have to use a remote USB cable...not sure what it all means).

Anyhow, I'll try to keep everyone posted. Hurricane Hanna is supposed to make landfall just South of Wilmington, which is only about 1 1/2 hrs Southeast of us. Once Hanna passes, then we get to look forward to Ike's visit. The ground will be quite saturated when Ike arrives, so we'll see how the next week or so goes!!



From WRAL.com:

• Tropical storm warning issued for all of N.C. coast
  Despite sunny skies, coastal counties asked for residents to evacuate voluntarily and planned to open shelters. Gov. Mike Easley declared a state of emergency for all of North Carolina ahead of Tropical Storm Hanna and Hurricane Ike.
  Updated 5 minutes ago
  Hanna to blow through Triangle Saturday
  Attorney general warns of scams, price gouging
• StoryHanna to blow through Triangle Saturday Updated 32 minutes ago Read Story Video Slideshow
• StoryEmergency officials prepare as Hanna heads northwest Updated at 4:22 p.m. Read Story Video Slideshow
• StoryHanna-spawned erosion threatens beach homes Sep. 3, 2008 Read Story Video
• StoryUtilities protect power lines from potential storm damage Sep. 3, 2008 Read Story Video

Ayres-Terry-Heinrich family website

I created a new family website for my dad's side of the family. Joshua's mom's family has a Bothun website at FamilyLobby.com. It has been a very successful method for the Bothun descendents to post pictures, recipes, birthdates, and so forth, and to see what other family members have done. You know, "keep in touch." So I thought it would be a really good idea to create a similar website for my family. I have plans to create another website for my mom's side of the family, but one thing at a time for now...

Family Lobby is really nice because it is a free website. When you create the website, you become the administrator & select the template & format, grant access for someone who wants to register for the website, and so forth. All registered users can add their own pictures, have their own journal (like a blog), add recipes, and read/view what other users have done. You don't have to be registered to view the website links (unless the administrator restricts access). I am very impressed with Family Lobby, so I would recommend it to everyone!

There's a link on the right side of this blog (where all our favorite blog pages are listed). Feel free to click on the link if you would like to view. Perhaps you will find use for Family Lobby for your own family. 8-)

Daniel started Pre-Kindergarten!

Our boy is growing up so fast. His first day of pre-kindergarten was today. In this picture, he is posing with Mrs. Reiss, his teacher, during Open House. His class meets Monday-Friday, 9am-12pm. They get to play outside & have a snack each day, Fridays are "Show & Share", and they go on lots of field trips. The first field trip is to the Wayne Regional Agricultural Fair, and later this Fall they will go to the Pumpkin Patch, and will also get to pick strawberries in the Spring. Daniel's cousin Ashley is in the same pre-K class, and their Grandma will be able to take them & pick them up from school. I took Daniel for his first day. He was such a big boy--acted like he knew exactly what he was doing and didn't look back after putting his lunch box in his cubbie. I can't wait to ask him what he learned today!