I'm Sticking to My Resolution!

We are nearing the end of the second month of 2013 and I've stuck to it!  I did a little window shopping this afternoon and I was really good.  I went to Ulta to find a cape wrap to color my hair.  They didn't carry anything like that so I headed toward Marshall's to get a cheap T-shirt to use as a cover up.  Well, I remembered my husband needed some new white undershirts so I thought I would use his old one's when I colored my hair and I bought him his new undershirt.  It was a win win shopping trip.  He got new undershirts and I stuck to my resolution!

I don't have much to report on our Bag-O-Fun.  We've had family things the past couple of weekends and this weekend DH is sick.  It sort of sucks because this is a nice long weekend.

Bag-O-Fun 2nd Activity Report : (

Not much to report this week.  I got hurt this weekend so we couldn't do our chosen activity.  I think it will go back into the back to by chosen for another weekend.

Apps I Like Post 1

I took several screen shots of my iPod that show which apps I have been using.
I really like the Pinterest and Pandora app.  The Pinterest app is really easy to use, but I wish you could change the view to landscape.  This is an issue I'm finding on many of the apps that I use.  The Pandora app is a family favorite.  We love how we can choose the type of music we want to listen to and it's free!
  

In my Social Folder I have 7 apps.  My favorite thus far has been the Google Voice Phone.  You can make phone calls and text from this app.  You do need to be by WiFi, but it's cheaper than being on a 2 year contract with a high monthly fee!  I also learned how to use Messages.  This is Apple's texting app.  We have an iPad and I saw it, but didn't quite know what to do with it.  Since the iPod is mine I've been playing around with the different apps and I'm not worried about messing it up.  I also like Talkatone, but I think this is linked to Google Voice (?).  The Facebook app is nice, but again you can't put it in landscape view and that makes it difficult to type.  This is my opinion.  Messenger on the other hand is linked to Facebook and you can message people and put it in landscape.  I like this, but my wrists and thumbs do get tired.  I have been using Pinger for awhile.  I only text a few people with this app.  I don't normally check it so my friends who do text me on this app know to call if they don't hear back from me in a timely manner : ).  I just really can't get on the texting bandwagon.  I like email better.  The last app that I need to talk about is Twitter.  I don't really get Twitter, but it was neat to use it this morning.  I Tweeted to a news station to find out why a helicopter was circling my neighborhood and the news person got back to me with the information.  Other than that I don't know how to use this app.

Birthday Present from my Mom : )

My mom gave me a new iPod Touch 5th Generation!  I have an older Touch (3rd Gen?).  I realized it was getting slower and didn't have the perks of a camera/video camera.  Also, many of the newer apps and updates wouldn't run correctly.  I've had a couple of weeks to play around with my new toy and I am really happy!  My mom also got me a case and some screen protectors.  I still need to put the protectors on, but I really like having the wallet case.  Here are some pictures of my new toy!

I picked out the pink iPod Touch.  I realized that I really like pink!

Here is the wallet case that I picked out.  The Ipod snaps in easily.  There are also little pockets for credit cards or business cards.  You could probably put in paper money, too.  I haven't tried that yet.  I like having my regular wallet.

Here is another position you can put the iPod in .  You can pop it up if you want to watch a video.  I like to have it propped up when I FaceTime with my mom.




This is really a neat gadget.  I know that lots of people have an iPhone, but I just don't want to pay the high monthly fee.  Having the iPod is like getting all of the perks of an iPhone without the 2 year contract and paying $80-$100 for a plan.  My cell phone plan is really basic.  We have two numbers on the account and pay $78/month if I stay under our minutes.  We don't have texting or data attached to our plan.  It is strictly a phone plan with 700 minutes shared between 2 numbers.  I am learning how to text now.  My next post will be the apps that I really like!

Bag-O-Fun 1st Activity Report!

This past weekend was our first activity from our Bag-O-Fun and it was fun!  We had a 3 day weekend and it really did feel nice and long.  I think it was because we did lots of different things.  I finally got back in the water and surfed two times and caught about 6 waves.  Not too exciting, but it's a start.

Right now I'm in the middle of winter cleaning.  Monday I cleaned the house and started to organize.  Now I'm clearing out emails from my work inbox and will start on my personal inbox.  January 2013 is coming to a close and my goal is to have less clutter at the start of February!

Found a New Soup Recipe

It is still cold here in Southern California.  I know it's relative, but it's cold for us!  We don't have central heating so we are always cold during this time of year.  I like having soup for dinner because it warms us up and is nice comfort food.  I found a chowder off of the Martha Stewart website that I pinned.  I made a couple of changes to the recipe.  I bought a rotisserie chicken and used that as the protein instead of bacon.  It turned out really yummy and I am looking forward to having leftovers for lunch today!

Here is my version of the Broccoli Chowder with Corn and Chicken!

 Here is Martha's Version:

http://www.marthastewart.com/314674/broccoli-chowder-with-corn-and-bacon

I also used my Chop Wizard to prep the veggies.  I realized that I need to cut the onions smaller so I get a diced effect.  I've been cutting the onions in half like the instructions say, but they a too big for my taste.  I like them chopped up a bit more.

I'm off to eat an early lunch.  It's so cold in the house my fingers are freezing up and it's very difficult to type! : )

Bag-O-Fun!

I sort of fell off of the Happiness Challenge.  Their emails kept getting sent to my spam box and I would delete the messages before they got read.  The activities they did recommend and that I read always revolved around quality of food you eat and activities that you do each day.  I get that proper food and fitness helps, but what I was looking for was how to keep my happiness levels elevated during unsavory tasks that I have to do each week.  This is an area that is a work in progress and hopefully will change for the better during 2013!

On to the Bag-O-Fun!

I know it sort of looks like something that was spit out of your paper shredder, but it is a bag of activities that my hubby and I can do throughout 2013.  We have tried to do new things each weekend, but always end up doing the same stuff.  He surfs, I surf with him or go to the gym, he plays video games, I hang out on the couch with the animals and we eat at the same restaurant every weekend.  (They know us so well they don't bother giving us a menu!)  It's actually a fun and relaxing way to spend a weekend, but we do it 3 out of the 4 weekends each month.

I made 52 slips of paper and we split it in half.  We each wrote down what we wanted to do.  There are some doubles since we didn't tell each other what we wrote.  That's ok since things like taking the dogs to the beach and going bike riding are always fun activities to do multiple times.

We picked out our activities for this weekend.  The first one was to choose a venue to see a musical act sometime in 2013 and to pick another activity for this weekend.  DH wrote that one.  We checked the calendars for venues in our area, but their 2013 calendars haven't been updated so we'll keep checking. I got to pick another activity and we are going to get lunch and drinks somewhere different this weekend.  The place we are going has been remodeled so it will be fun to see how it looks!

What do you all have planned for this third weekend in January?