Blissful E

23 Feb, 2010

Pear Budget

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

A scientist and an engineer fall in love, get married, create a budget.

Fast-forward ten years later, and our budget-tracking spreadsheet has at least 50 different categories. Despite this level of detail, I have no real idea of where we stand unless I look at our bank account balance.

photo my mum took of my dad with a pear at Apple FunPark

Pear Budget stood out as an alternative to our spreadsheet madness, and I signed up for a free 30-day trial in December which convinced me to purchase a full year of online service. Here are a few reasons why I love it so far:

super easy to enter (and edit) expenses and income - I admit I now enjoy entering receipts
convenient "tags" field to add notes - much easier than adding a comment to a cell in Excel
you never have to press a "save" button or worry about backing up any files
enter that month's income and that month's expenses - if you purchase something you've saved for before starting Pear Budget, you can put in a receipt with a negative amount to show that you already had the money saved
owners Charlie and Sarah are very responsive and love to answer questions - they really do want to make it easy to keep track of your budget

I will continue testing this online budgeting service to see if it stands up to real life, irregular expenses and all. Stay tuned for a more thorough review in a few months. If you have any questions you'd like me to try to answer as I'm poking around, just let me know.

Please note, this is not a compensated review, just a product I like.

3 Comments

Tags: home management, review

22 Feb, 2010

memorizing catechism

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

We just finished the fifth week of our homeschooling journey, which we have begun with catechism memorization. Nikki and Michael both enjoy it and I think the Catechism for Young Children in particular does a great job of (a) breaking down complex doctrine into understandable pieces and (b) satisfying the endless curiosity of preschoolers and toddlers. The question and answer format is a natural learning style for curious littlies.

We have our lessons during lunch or immediately after, with Vi on my back in a baby carrier most days.

To begin, I open Starr Meade's book, Training Hearts, Teaching Minds and ask each of the questions we've studied to date. Nikki knows the answers so this is a review. Here is a video of her answering the first four questions of the Shorter Catechism in Modern English:

I then read the current week's question and answer several times. After that, I read the paragraph for that day (there are six short lessons, one each for Monday through Saturday). If things are going well, I will read two day's worth of lessons, because we don't homeschool on Saturdays, and usually there will be one or two weekdays where Vi needs extra attention or something else comes up.

Each of the daily lessons contains several Bible references to look up. As I was searching for a verse today, Nikki asked me, "Mama, what will happen when I can read?" Then she answered her own question, "I will be able to look up verses in the Bible!"

Following the paragraph lesson, I read the current week's question and answer two or three more times. Then I pull out the Catechism for Young Children and start at the top. Nikki has it memorized up through question 21, and Michael knows the answers to the first three questions. You can hear him in this video:

Recently I have been able to answer some of Nikki's questions about God or sin with catechism answers that she already knows. It's fantastic to see her fit the pieces into place, and it makes my job easier to have answers ready to give.

6 Comments

Tags: catechism, homeschooling, preschooler, toddler, video

21 Feb, 2010

Vi’s first bite

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Six months old tomorrow, and Vi took her first bite today.

6 Comments

Tags: food, milestones, months 4-6

19 Feb, 2010

sharing

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

3 Comments

Tags: preschooler, toddler

16 Feb, 2010

Nikki likes the LIKEaBIKE

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Robin asked for a review of the LIKEaBIKE we bought our children for Christmas.

The short answer is that the LIKEaBIKE is fantastic! A stress-free child-led introduction to cycling.

Nikki gained confidence by riding around and around the living room. Then one day she asked to take her LIKEaBIKE outside.

She practiced in the back garden, and later I shot some video as she maneuvered around a parking lot, down a grassy hill, and along a wetlands trail.

This short clip shows her riding, turning wide circles, and stopping.

Please note, this is not a compensated review, just a product I like.

4 Comments

Tags: preschooler, review, video

15 Feb, 2010

sitting up

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Vi surprised us this weekend by pushing herself up into a sitting up position on the playmat. She continued to sit up while snacking on Duplo and grabbing a book.

Note: the video doesn't have any sound. I decided it wasn't the time to stun the world with Nikki's and my rendition of We Gather Together.

5 Comments

Tags: milestones, months 4-6, video

14 Feb, 2010

unconditional love, unconditional respect

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

Happy Valentines' Day! Those of you who know me know I'm passionate about marriage. I think that Satan is against marriage, and with divorce rates upwards of 50%, too few people benefit from the happy, healthy relationships God desires for us.

When Pastor Graham spoke on marriage in his sermon this weekend, I was pleased to learn something that I hadn't heard before, but which I know will benefit my marriage.

First of all, I loved his premise: if God designed marriage, shouldn't we pay attention to what he says in the Bible about marriage? Lots of people shrug off the gender-specific non-politically-correct passage in Ephesians about submission and marriage. Pastor Graham challenges that assumption. He challenged us not to ignore what God has said.

Focusing on Paul's words, "husbands love your wives, wives respect your husbands," Pastor Graham quoted a statistic. In a survey of men asked whether they would prefer to be loved or to be respected, 85% of men said they would prefer to be respected.

We're pretty familiar with unconditional love. Obviously our men should love us even when we're cranky, demanding, lazy and selfish.

But what really blew me away was this - the respect we show our husbands should also be unconditional. It's not about how much money he makes, things ticked off to-do lists, or even how much love we're feeling. We need to respect him, regardless.

After all, how can he lead his family - if no one is following him? Or, as Pastor Graham put it, how can he stand up - if we've cut his legs out from under him?

Most of the time I find it so easy to respect my husband. I know I'm very fortunate to be married to a godly, trustworthy, caring, intelligent, and hardworking man. There have been times when I have withheld my respect from him for whatever reason - hurt feelings, disappointment, or just ugliness.

Now that I realise that I should show respect to Ben no matter what, I can choose to do that even during the rare times that I don't feel like it. And in doing so, I am making a choice to further strengthen our marriage and celebrate many more Happy Valentines' Days to come!

8 Comments

Tags: Christian life, church

13 Feb, 2010

dedicating Vi to the Lord

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

We were delighted this evening to dedicate Vi to Christ in front of our church family at Subiaco Church of Christ.

photos taken by Jessie whose grandson Jacob was also dedicated during the service

Pastor Graham asked us if we would commit to love, guide, and nurture Vi in the worship and teaching of Christ. He asked us to live as examples of Christ to our children.

Our response? We will!

Related posts:

dedicating Nikki to the Lord - 17 November 2006
dedicating Michael to the Lord - 25 April 2008

3 Comments

Tags: Christian life, church, months 4-6

12 Feb, 2010

at least he gave it a try

Posted by: blissfule In: Perth ()

This afternoon Nikki asked for macaroni and cheese, but there was no blue box in the house. I grabbed the opportunity to try Auntie Leila's Easy Mac and Cheese recipe.

While cooking, I remembered the advice not to let my helpers taste any of the grated cheese prior to mixing it into our shells. Tasting the plain grated cheese makes the final cheese mixture seem less cheesy, and we didn't want that!

After stirring all the ingredients together, I served Nikki, Michael, and myself each a bowl of cheesy noodles.

Nikki and I enjoyed the pasta. The light-coloured sauce reminded me both in colour and flavour of Kraft White Cheddar Macaroni and Cheese. However, after his fifth bowl, Michael said he didn't like it.